Performance

Insiders/Outsiders and the U.S. Stage

January 30, 2020 - By Len Berkman

Among the lesser discussed aspects of “mainstream” theater (and film as well as TV) in the U.S. is its overarching goal to stir proud “insider” feelings in its large-scale audiences. Realism became a major implement in that regard. What could make “us ticket-holders” feel more welcome than the stage’s invisible fourth wall: for us to see and hear through, as we sit invisible in the dark, “flies on the wall,” our only hoped for sounds to be our collective laughter, tears, or resounding climactic applause.

Needless to say, “outsiders” too are invariably, in far smaller numbers, among these audiences. Liberal, compassionate, generous, as our majority of theaters see their functions to be, they not only welcome “us” too in various ways, they also mount plays that for over a century often include some...

William Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance: A Meditative Choreographic Act

December 5, 2019 - By Mark Franko

This fall Peter Brook presented Why?, a play-as-conversation between three actors in which they reflect intellectually and performatively in deftly sketched scenes on theater-making from the actor’s perspective. This chamber work, composed of discussions about the actor’s craft, is directed in part toward the audience with no lack of enlightening, whimsical, and sometimes quite moving illustrations. Why? is a theoretical and historical brief on theater’s infinite possibilities and mortal dangers, a fit addition to the distinguished career of Peter Brook, which now spans seven decades. In the play’s background, coming increasingly into focus, is the tragic history of the great Russian director Vsevolod Meyerhold, the creator of biomechanics, a movement training system for actors. The question of the title concerns not only why we do theater,...

Teodor Currentzis’s Verdi: Ecclesiastic or Sublimative?

November 1, 2019 - By Alexei Parin

Some works in the history of music have received directly opposing assessments. Throughout his life, Giuseppe Verdi wrote operas. And then, suddenly, at the same time as Aida, he composed his Messa da Requiem. At first, in 1868, he created only one part—the last section (Libera Me). This was to be his contribution to a collective composition, a ­­Requiem in memory of Rossini. It was never performed, however. And when in 1873 Alessandro Manzoni, the author of I Promessi Sposi (a novel that Verdi read when he was only sixteen!) died, the next day the composer decided to create a grand memorial—a requiem—to “our Saint.” Verdi idolized Manzoni and called him a Great Poet, a Great Citizen, and the Glory of Italy.

From the very beginning, most critics saw a significant divergence between the religious text and...

At a Distance: Sadness in Bartók's Final Quartet

October 19, 2019 - By Edward Dusinberre

My music is open on the stand, yet at the beginning of Bela Bartók's sixth string quartet I can only listen. A string quartet is usually a collaborative effort, but for nearly a full minute our violist Geri plays the tune alone: Mesto—sad. At first I feel as if I am eavesdropping on a private sorrow, then, as the melody climbs higher, the viola becomes more declamatory, as if conscious of an audience. Like the listeners in the hall, I cannot evade the sad mood.

The initial outpouring dissipates and the melody fades away. Together we break the silence by playing the same loud notes and rhythm—vigorous bow strokes that banish the melancholy. No more sadness then. After another pause, we exchange hushed flurries of notes back and forth, the quietly bustling energy of the subsequent music offering a more sustained rejoinder to the opening tune: the slow...

Don’t Call African-American Theatre Black Theatre: It’s Like Calling a Dog a Cat

September 12, 2019 - By Dominic Taylor

I’ve been trying to find a way to frame an idea, and I believe my somewhat pithy title above basically catches it.

When social upheavals occur, people do many things to find solace, including looking to pets for comfort. What is true of pets will also help us understand certain recent cultural phenomena. In short, what I have in mind is not just an assessment involving nomenclature or semantics; I’m thinking about what a work of art or entertainment fundamentally is. Dogs and cats are both contemporary domestic animals, yet anyone who has had either can attest to the fact that they are very different life forms.

With the election of the 45^th president, a lot of well-meaning people in the American Theatre were trying to find progressive and positive ways to fight back. Many patrons and other power players in theatre today are loath to admit that the...