Comment: The phantom crescent strikes The Phantom Crescent

by Bob Churchill on Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Make first comment on this post

International, National

The relative liberalism to which theatre is treated in the UK is not universal. A play satirising the “hypocritical” exercise of Sharia law in Nigeria was banned last week… by a Sharia court.

A hisbah Sharia enforcement squad, accused of human rights abuses, and a particular target of Shehu Sani’s The Phantom Crescent

It is sometimes easy to forget — in a middle-class theatre in Middle Britain — that as well as providing entertainment, the theatre is a traditional organon of dissent and advocacy.

There have been some (mainly religious) highly publicised objections to some dramatic content in the UK in recent years (such as the Christian Voice-orchestrated protests against Jerry Springer The Opera, which resulted in significant loss of sponsorship and some tour dates, and the violent Sikh protests against Behzti in Birmingham, which resulted in the theatre halting the run). However there is little government control (the Tricycle Theatre was able to stage Called To Account in April this year which pointedly asked whether Tony Blair should be indicted for the Iraq War, for example).

But criticism of the ruling elites and their enforcement squads in Nigeria has landed one playwright in court, his performances outlawed and his book banned.

Selected text from allAfrica.com, “Kaduna Sharia Court Bans Book” follows below.

(more…)

Elf/pirate to “do some theatre”

by Site Admin on Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Make first comment on this post

Celebrity, International, National, Newspapers

Former Lord of the Rings elf and Pirates of the Caribbean pirate, British actor Orlando Bloom, will debut in In Celebration at the Duke of York’s Theatre tomorrow. It is Bloom’s first ever major theatrical role, he is widely criticized for being bland and unable to act, and he had never heard of playwright and author David Storey before… though perhaps more surprising is that Storey had never heard of Bloom (”No, I’m afraid I hadn’t heard of Orlando”).

Orlando Bloom is interviewed by cultural guru Mark Lawson in the Guardian today.

Deciding that he “really needed to do some theatre because I was feeling a bit thin”, [Bloom] was offered the part of Steven, the quietest of the three brothers in In Celebration, but initially said no. “I was, like, ‘You want me to play Steven? Why? He doesn’t say much, does he?’ I just didn’t get it.” He asked for the showier role, Andrew, but realised the character was too old, and was persuaded that Steven was a good entry into theatre. He believes now that the modesty of the role is an advantage. “I saw the potential for a great ensemble play. I was very conscious of not wanting a star vehicle. I wanted to crack this perception of, ‘Oh, it’s Orl …’” His own name trips him up, as if he’s wary of becoming one of those performers who refer to themselves with ease in the third person. “You know, that it’s ‘Orlando Bloom.’” He completes the name, but with exaggerated distance, as if it were a fictional character “doing some theatre”.

(more…)

Journal covers “Elton’s tale of serial murder”

by Site Admin on Saturday, June 23, 2007
1 comment on this post

Celebrity, International, Newspapers, Publicity, STAC productions

On the day that several STAC members helped out on the company’s stall at the Worcester Arts Fair (see “STAC to attend Guildhall Arts day”), handing out fliers and encouraging new members to join, the Berrow’s Worcester Journal (published yesterday and widely distributed today) covers Popcorn, with an encouraging synopsis of the play.

The text of the article follows below.

(more…)

Germaine Greer on “regional” arts

by Site Admin on Monday, June 18, 2007
Make first comment on this post

Celebrity, International, National, Newspapers

Germaine Greer has a piece in the Guardian today, “Hard as it is for Londoners to believe, the capital isn’t the centre of the arts universe”. It focuses on opera rather than the performing arts more generally but it does open with an assertive push for “regional” theatre, as opposed to the prevailing “Londonocentric” attitude.

Today I am to appear in something called the Big Debate, organised by the University of Central England as part of the New Generation Arts Festival. I am to speak to the (hopefully rhetorical) question whether or not “there is life in regional arts”. Some people seem to think that arts in regional England have been on life support for too long. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport would probably be delighted to hear that the brain stem of regional arts is dead, and funds can now be safely diverted to the Olympics. Region is a baggy word, chosen by the Londonocentric in preference to the word “provinces”. North-western Europe is a region too, a region that we are supposed to belong to, but when it comes to the arts, we couldn’t be more different.