TREVOR NUNN TO DIRECT LISA DWAN IN BECKETT'S HAPPY DAYS by Robert Shuman

(Chris Wiegand's article appeared in the Guardian, 11/18; Photo: Astonishing … Lisa Dwan in No's Knife at the Old Vic in 2016. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/the Guardian.) Dwan will play …

LET'S PLAY 'BEAT THE BARD' (20) by Robert Shuman

  Can you beat the Bard? Questions by Joyce E. Henry, Ph.D. All rights reserved.  

5 EXTRAORDINARY SOVIET CLOWNS by Robert Shuman

(Valeria Paikova's article appeared in Russia Beyond the Headlines, 11/16.)   Yuri Belinsky/Sputnik; Yevgeny Ivanov, Semyon Mishin-Morgenshtern/MAMM/MDF/russiainphoto.ru Just like any oth…

ARE STREAMED PLAYS THEATER OR TV? UNIONS SETTLE A DISPUTE by Robert Shuman

(Michael Paulson's article appeared in The New York Times, 11/19; Actors' Equity and SAG-AFTRA's agreement clears the way for more entertainment during the pandemic winter; via Pam Green.) T…

WB YEATS, THE SPANISH FLU AND AN EXPERIMENT IN QUARANTINE by Robert Shuman

(Joseph M. Hassett's article appeared in the Irish Times, 11/20.) The elixir of love is potent medicine for all locked in by pandemic or the virus of hatred WB Yeats's December 14th, 1918 le…

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (100) by Robert Shuman

It is only through a strongly developed outer and inner technique that one can reach . . . the complete concentration of one's inner life on the stage, the ability to fire one's passions and…

DOLLY PARTON HELPED FUND MODERNA'S VACCINE. IT BEGAN WITH A CAR CRASH AND AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP. by Robert Shuman

(Timothy Bella's article appeared in The Washington Post, 11/18; Photo: Today.com; via the Drudge Report.) As Dolly Parton tells it, her first-ever car accident in October 2013 was minor, bu…

LET'S PLAY 'BEAT THE BARD' (19) by Robert Shuman

  Can you beat the Bard? Questions by Joyce E. Henry, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

FOR GERMANY'S THEATERS, A RELUCTANT INTERMISSION by Robert Shuman

(A. J. Goldman's article appeared in The New York Times, 11/12; Photo: Carolin Conrad, left, and Lukas Rüppel in "Danton's Death" at the the Residenztheater in Munich.  Credit…Sandra T…

ANCIENT STATUE OF HERMES DUG UP IN ATHENS by Robert Shuman

(via AFP. Photo:  © Provided by AFP This handout picture released by the Greek Culture Ministry on November 15, 2020, shows the head of an ancient statue of the Greek god Hermes,…

EMILY WILSON ON AESCHYLUS' ORESTEIA by Robert Shuman

(Wilson's article appeared in the London Review of Books, 10/8; via Norm Silverman.) Aeschylus'​ Oresteia begins with the story of a grieving, righteously angry woman seeking ju…

BLACK LIVES MATTER IN "TITUS ANDRONICUS" (INTERVIEW WITH DAVID STERLING BROWN) by Robert Shuman

Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 155 (Folger Shakespeare Library) In his classes at Binghamton University, David Sterling Brown and his students examine Shakespeare's plays through the lens of…

LET'S PLAY 'BEAT THE BARD' (18) by Robert Shuman

PLAY WITH THE FORMAT: HOW THEATRE SHOWS ARE DISPENSING WITH THE STAGE by Robert Shuman

(Natasha Tripney's article appeared in the Guardian, 11/7.) Undeterred by Covid, theatre-makers are beaming innovative plays into people's homes via Zoom, WhatsApp and Minecraft Since mid-Ma…

10 SOVIET ACTRESSES YOU SHOULD KNOW (PHOTOS+VIDEOS) by Robert Shuman

Vasily Malyshev/Sputnik; Sputnik (Valeria Paikova's article appeared on Russia Beyond, 11/6.)   These committed movie stars became symbols of their era, setting silver screens alight with…

PATTI LUPONE WAS A CONSTANT. THE OTHER INGREDIENTS NEVER COOKED. by Robert Shuman

(Laura Collins-Hughes's article appeared in The New York Times, 11/4;  Photo: Patti LuPone, left, as the title character and Chaim Topol as her husband in the pre-Broadway tour of the mus…

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (99) by Robert Shuman

The first attempts at something new remain almost always misunderstood and misevaluated. There appear other people who borrow the new and show it to the general public in popular form, reapi…

THIS BRAZILIAN PIANIST USES 'BIONIC GLOVES' TO PLAY by Robert Shuman

(from Reuters, 11/6. Photo: Brazilian conductor and pianist Joao Carlos Martins, 80, who after many years lost the ability to play due to health complications from focal dystonia, smiles as …

LET'S PLAY 'BEAT THE BARD' (17) by Robert Shuman

Can you beat the Bard? Questions by Joyce E. Henry, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

BRENDAN A. BRADLEY: HOW TO CUSTOMIZE #FUTURESTAGES VR THEATER FOR YOUR SHOW by Robert Shuman

Welcome to the future"#FutureStages. Above creator/guru, Brendan A. Bradley.  Watch his introductory video below. On 10/30, he spoke to Bob Ost, executive director of Theater Resources…

VSEVOLOD MEYERHOLD: THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST DIRECTOR EXECUTED BY STALIN by Robert Shuman

(Valeria Paikova's article appeared in Russia Beyond the Headlines, 10/28; Photo: Russia Beyond the Headlines.) Vsevolod Meyerhold was a personality of great contradictions, and one of the m…

LET'S PLAY 'BEAT THE BARD' (16) by Robert Shuman

Can you beat the Bard? Questions by Joyce E. Henry, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

IN AVIGNON, SNATCHING THEATER FROM THE JAWS OF NEW LOCKDOWNS by Robert Shuman

(Laura Cappelle's article appeared in The New York Times, 10/30; Photograph:  Kaori Ito in "The Damask Drum" during the abbreviated "A Week of Art in Avignon." Credit…Christophe Rayn…

JAMES BOND ACTOR SIR SEAN CONNERY DIES IN HIS SLEEP AGED 90 by Robert Shuman

James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery dies in his sleep aged 90: Oscar-winning 007 legend passes away in the Bahamas after being 'unwell for some time' (Ryan Fahey's and Jack Elsom's article app…

REVIEW: 'TOUCH OF THE POET' IS A POWERFUL STUDY IN TOXIC PRIDE (CRITIC'S PICK) by Robert Shuman

(Maya Phillips's article appeared in The New York Times, 10/30; Photo: Robert Cuccioli as a Massachusetts pub owner who fancies himself more in Eugene O'Neill's "A Touch of the Poet."Credit�…