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Oh, my orchard! Sweetie! Darling!

The Articles What I Read and Enjoyed:

In the incomparable Guardian, Michael Billington translates the work and words of playwright/adaptor Christopher Hampton, who currently has three plays running in London. Lynn Gardner reports that Joanna Lumley (my idol!) does an absolutely fabulous job in a current production of the Cherry Orchard. Cheers, darling! Gardner also has good news that the Battersea Arts Center, one of the premiere crucibles for collaborative performance, seems to be surviving a funding crisis. Jay Rayner offers a noble profile of Ian McKellen, who will soon take on King Lear, likely with more success than Kevin Kline. The play will arrive at BAM in September. McKellen’s method: 'Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. Honesty is the best policy.'

In the New York Times, Joy Goodwin plays around with the puppets of Avenue Q, writing an amusing piece casting Avenue Q's touring company (although as the show has spawned London and Las Vegas companies the piece is perhaps less than timely). The Times also reports on a Connecticut high school that canceled a student written play based on first person accounts of the war in Iraq.

In New York magazine, Boris Kachka annotates OBIE judge Adam Rapp’s resume. Military School? Graphic novels? Bouncer?