The Playgoer: some reading...

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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

some reading...

Here are my picks for some interesting theatre and arts-related readings lately (from the last few days of Arts Journal)...

- The always must-read-able John Lahr weighs in on the London Globe's "original pronunciation" staging of Troilus and Cressida. His verdict? "Thirty percent comprehensible."

-In the classical music world, Fred Kirshnit in the NY Sun has a scathing indictment of that prodigy factory known as Juilliard.

-Former Columbia Arts Journalism director Andras Szanto speaks out about the lack of "cultural policy".

-Who woulda thunk, Alfred Nobel (yes, that Nobel) was also an amateur playwright whose luridness rivaled Strindberg's! (Even if the director reviving him admits the writing is crap.)

-And finally, here's a bit of cultural diplomacy: the British Arts Council sponsoring Shakespeare in Kabul! Performed by and for Afghanis. (Would you have guessed Love's Labor's Lost? It's even adapted to the local setting.) Not to be outdone, I suppose, "The US Agency for International Development has even started using roving troupes of actors to stage plays in rural areas to educate people about forthcoming elections." It's a start, at least...

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