For the second time since the election, Donald Trump has butted antlers with the professional theatre industry. I guess it’s not that surprising; after all, he seems hard-wired to antagonize everyone within his reach, and thanks to Twitter and the U.S. Presidency (in that order), his reach is vast. Still, it’s disorienting to have worked…
So far, it’s been a weird year in the Edmonton theatre community. First, Liz Nicholls, the grand dame of dramatic journalism, was laid off from the Edmonton Journal after 35 years. Then there was the Walterdale tempest in a teapot. Now, a real shocker: David Belke is being charged with possession of child pornography. Belke…
Othello is one of my favourite plays. I’ve taught it repeatedly and directed it twice – once in 1996, in a highly condensed three-person Fringe production, and once in 2003, with the cast expanded to six. I love its language, which soars to epic similes and plunges into grotesque raunch, sometimes in the same line;…
In February 1601, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men gave a command performance of Shakespeare’s play, Richard II. The aim was insurrection; Lord Essex was hoping that the play (which depicts an unfit monarch getting deposed by a righteous usurper) would stir the commoners’ hearts to support an actual coup d’etat against Queen Elizabeth I. The mob…
