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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Revivals

From The Guardian this wonderful article about the revival of a play by a living playwright.

David Eldridge's "Under the Blue Sky" has currently been remounted and he has some interesting thoughts on what that whole process has been like. This quote is one I wish I had written...really, really wish that I had written as it so perfectly sums up the situation here in Canada as well.

Theatre in this country is currently preoccupied with a cult of virginity, with new plays premiered and discarded in rapid succession; far more than it is in nurturing a contemporary repertoire that will sustain modern playwriting long-term.

The cult of virginity. The perfect descriptive phrase.

2 comments:

Rolando Teco said...

Yes, indeed! The cult of virginity is a real detriment to theatre in general. The plays that are worth producing barely see the light of day before they're tossed aside.

I posted on this at Extra Criticum. See my post: "How Full is Full?" for more on this insanity.
http://www.extracriticum.com/extra_criticum/2008/07/how-full-is-ful.html

- Rolando Teco
(of Extra Criticum dot com)

Obsidian Theatre said...

Hey Rolando,

I see what you are saying re: Broadway but here in Canada we don't have quite that same set up. However we do have a ton of theatres that are dedicated to new Canadian works and that creates a gaping maw of need that results in a lot of half baked not quite ready shows hitting the deck. And then of course they are done. A new production is a rare rare thing.
For the very first time I was approached by a venue to create/produce a play that would contractually be developed for a premiere performance at said venue. We could do ummmm 3-5 shows there and then transfer it to wherever down town and they would be good to help in the development etc.
It's an odd odd thing.