#theatreworld

[i-do-not-mean-it]

Vakhtangov Theatre, Moscow

[maxineshawsdaughter]

This is how we prepare before a show lol. Would you like to join? @ztheshirtlesschefz #brightstartouringtheatre #actingjourney #childrenstheatre #theatreworld #theatre #hulahoop #drdaisy #BlackHistoryHallOfFame

[maxineshawsdaughter]

Backstage ab to get announced in. Dr. Daisy is ab to tell these kids ab Black History! #actingjourney #BlackHistoryHallOfFame #theatreworld #theatre #childrenstheatre #brightstartouringtheatre

[maxineshawsdaughter]

The weather is a little grim but that bit of sunshine is just letting me know that as I'm on my way to my 2nd theatre tour everything is going to be alright. Have a great day everyone! #theatretour #actingjourney #theatreworld #theatre #ihateflying

[zacharydavidpalmer]

About

From Zak at Saks (2014) Before joining Saks in NY I spent time at Bloomingdale's, Saks Cincinnati and Macy's, and spent 6 years in New York creating art, DJing, hosting parties, modeling, performing, producing events and writing about accessories, fashion, lifestyle, music, nightlife and theater.

From thelmagazine.com (2006) Zachary: An Introduction Maybe it is the weather or the mayor, the political climate or the copious snow melting into precarious ice but, for whatever reason, in the dead of winter people turn into flakes — listen up, sweetheart: too cold is never an excuse. Oh, but let's not be season-specific: too hot is never a reason, either. Unless we are talking about undressing in public — which brings us to dancing. I am here for all of your bacchanal-news, so this will be the blog you visit daily when work gets banal. I am not much for sleeping, so let my blogs be your one-stop source for all things between 10pm and 8am. A bunch of smug, hipster manqué bloggers will try to grab me by my nascent blogging-feet and shake me upside-down-baby-style... but they will have to find me first, if they every make it to an actual dancefloor. I am the boy on the speaker in the duct-taped-together cowboy boots. This all-hours medium works because the downtown dance scene is a twenty-four hour partymarket. I will not spoil anyone's "surprise guest DJ" fun, but as soon as whomever shows up I will be blogging it. These postings are all about you, darling — written in the argot of the organic, inspired scene that you and I run in. Send me tips, send me love — go dancing with me, walk-homes are free. From Theatre World Volume 60: 2003-2004 (2006)

Launched: 12/02/2012; 09/28/2009

[oleannablog-blog]

#Oleanna Theatreworld Review

Theatreworld Review

Wednesday 13 April

We’re almost 20 years on from the first production in Cambridge, Massachusetts of David Mamet’s controversial play, Oleanna, inspired by the legal battle between Anita Hill, a university law professor, and her former colleague and supervisor, Justice Clarence Thomas. The charge of sexual harrassment and abuse of power brought then is brought once again by Carol, Mamet’s initially diffident and tongue tied student, against John, her professor and tutor. Times have changed but the power of the drama, particularly within this university theatre in Nottingham, remains fully charged.

Always good to grab your audience from the onset as Matt Aston, director, and designer, Laura McEwen, do from the word go. The action on stage has begun by the time we enter the auditorium. Carol (Clare Foster) sits silently and nervously. John (Alistair McGowen), her teacher, fully engrossed on the phone, ignores her. The set, John’s study, reduces the stage area by half, creating a strong focus on the actors, ironically so near physically and yet so far apart in understanding, empathy and communication. The physical claustrophobia suggests we’ll be going nowhere fast.

In 90 minutes, three scenes, and no interval we follow the story of the student who comes for help with her course work, of the teacher who attempts ineptly, condescendingly and inappropriately to do so and of the charges and subsequent demise of one/ both of them in the process. It’s a very clever play in which every word, spoken and unspoken, is vital. Mamet gives us a variety of possibilities from which we can judge. Is this student really ‘so stupid’?  Is her teacher so unaware? Is the situation a set up? Why is neither of them capable of listening? Undoubtedly these are traps that both parties would be much more aware of guarding against today. Think of assessments for teaching competence, the need for observers in vulnerable situations, not to mention training sessions to guard against discrimination. But you can’t risk proof life and human nature so that Mamet’s essential drama keeps its full relevance.

It’s a big ask of the two actors. Alistair McGowen describes the role as ‘ genuinely the hardest thing I’ve done’. He says that he and Clare feel nervous before every performance. The lines are complicated, often truncated, making little sense and not easily memorable, their main purpose being to show a lack of communication. Small movement is important. I liked Foster’s portrayal of the nervous student – facial expression and bodily twitchings, McGowen likewise, with his powerful spreading gestures indicating supremacy and control, and then, of course, Mamet’s all action twist at the end, leaving the audience stunned. Indeed the audience were incredibly focused – not a cough or sigh, so totally bound up in the situation were they and listening intently to every nuance and word. Damian Coldwell’s forboding music and sounds only confirmed the sense of doom.

So here’s a chance for Nottingham audiences to catch what can be described as one of Mamet’s most controversial plays, extremely well acted and produced and also well supported by what Lakeside describes as ‘contextualising events’ – 4 free discussion/lecture sessions to further explore the play. See www.lakesidearts.org.uk for more information

Elaine Peel