Naked Masks: Sir Ian McKellen, Clothed

A Weekly Compendium of the Articles What I Read and Enjoyed, or The Guardian, I Love You:

Lyn Gardner laments the 33% cut in arts funding, designed to divert more money to the Olympics, pondering the chilling effect it will have on the development of new work and the ability of companies to tour.

Maxie Szalwinska surveys the brouhaha over an instance of onstage nudity, not the display of Daniel Radcliffe’s pubescent loins, but the perhaps more shocking if less salacious deployment of Sir Ian McKellen’s sexagenarian nether regions. In King Lear, to be seen at BAM in the fall, McKellen strips off during the storm scene. Apparently, audiences have complained that they weren’t forewarned.

In the L.A. Times, Zachary Pincus-Roth debates the merits and demerits of having a Hollywood star (Kevin Spacey, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, etc.) run your theater company.

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?

If you could compose like this man, you too might look smug.

A weekly compendium of the articles what I read, and enjoyed:

The gray lady earned herself some indie cred with a profile of charming tunesmith Michael Friedman. Although we might take some issue to the “Composing for Shakespeare while Listening to Timberlake” headline. Both immensely popular entertainers, both occasionally sporting earrings, both bringing the sexy back—are they really so far apart?

In an article on understudies, the Guardian discovers what it’s like to step into the sizable shoes of Richard Griffiths—with very little notice.

How do you do it? "Self-deception, mainly," says Haigh wryly. "It's a sort of confidence trick against yourself. You force yourself into a pretend calmness - and, at first, I came on with the script."

Taking it on the chin: Martin Crimp

A weekly compendium of the articles what I read and enjoyed:

Edward Albee may be afraid of Virginia Woolf, but, on the occasion of the play's revival, he isn't afraid to speak candidly to the L.A. Weekly about playwrights, critics, and the theatrical milieu.

The Guardian's theater coverage continues to thrill. This week features an interview with the misanthropic Mr. Crimp, who will soon enjoy a revival of his play Attempts on Her Life (New York audiences saw this play some years ago at Soho Rep). Playwright Mark Ravenhill offers an essay on whether or not artists are apt judges of their own work.

The New York Times strips off for the Harry-Potter-naked fray. The article restates earlier British material, but does feature the quotation, from an adolescent filly, "We’re all kind of freaked out about seeing his — well, him naked.” Hear, hear

Admittedly, he is a bit funny-looking here.

The Articles What I Read, a weekly compendium of reviews, features, and interviews that I've enjoyed:

In the Sun, Kate Ryan shines light on the problem of theaters who offering readings and workshops of new plays, rather than choosing to produce them. Several members of 13P, the generous contributors to our “Play in the Drawer” series, are quoted. In the article Anne Washburn comments, "Even if the play is imperfect, you need to see it up," a playwright and member of 13P, Anne Washburn, said. "You need to see it in front of an audience, and then you need to write the next one."

Even the Queen loves links.

The Articles What I Read and Enjoyed:

Campbell Robertson attends to African-American theatrical forms and their potential mainstream.

Guardian critic Lyn Gardner inveighs against playbills and their contents. (I would like to inveigh against the British habit of making you pay for programs, actor biographies have saved me from many a bout of excruciating boredom.)

The Articles What I read (and enjoyed) in the past week:

Hung like a...

In the Guardian, Michael Billington examines the "hoo-ha" (and no, that isn't a synonym for vagina) surrounding Daniel Radcliffe's baring all in Equus. He also provides a brief history of nudity on the English stage.

Feminist spectator Jill Dolan offers thoughts on the paucity of women writer's on Broadway and provides a canny comparison of The Scene and The Little Dog Laughed regarding their depiction of women.

A weekly and utterly subjective compendium of theater news and opinions:

Charles Isherwood offers a contrarian take on The Coat of Utopia

Adam Feldman loves up The Merchant of Venice and hates on The Jew of Malta, running in repertory