In a 2003 lecture sponsored by the U.S. Library of Congress, Harold Bloom, the American literary critic, said Hamlet, Shakespeare’s quintessential tragedy for the theater, still is “the most experimental play ever written.” He added, “You can make of the play ‘Hamlet’ and the protagonist pretty much what you will, whether you are playgoer or … Read more
In occupied France during World War II, writers and intellectuals did not approach the moral dilemma of collaboration and accommodation in a unifying response. A leading figure of the Resistance from the outset, Albert Camus edited an underground newspaper. But, Jean-Paul Sartre and André Malraux, while sympathetic to the Resistance efforts and contributing anti-Nazi content, … Read more
Two local masters of minimalistic theater are staging plays about children this fall — though stark contrasts in treatment. One is a macabre junk opera take on old German stories about children who misbehave or refuse to follow sound advice. The other is a new play about two siblings grieving over the loss of their … Read more
Why does it have to get dark? Why can’t the day always stay? Let’s say goodbye to the night time, Goodbye. Let’s send the dark time away. Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Some Things I Don’t Understand, 1968 In a 1970 episode of his legendary public television series Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Fred Rogers reflected on … Read more
A young German physician in the 1840s, Heinrich Hoffman, disappointed that he could not find a suitable children’s book for his three-year-old son, decided to write his own as a Christmas present. The following year, Zacharias Löwenthal, a German publisher, read Hoffman’s work and decided to publish it under the pen name of Reimerich Kinderlieb. … Read more
As the third annual Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival wrapped up this past weekend, there was ample evidence showing how the event is developing the enduring presence and value that will lead to more choices of original, ambitious entertainment. Last week, The Utah Review highlighted four shows and this week’s sampling of four performances from … Read more
In its third year, the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival continues to develop solidly with excellent potential. As a creative incubator, it remains true to the ideals of that first independent festival 70 years ago in Edinburgh, where four criteria are essential: no prior professional performing arts experience required, no juried selection, no pretentiousness or … Read more
Being a conservative in the arts has also been great for me because those in the arts give me a full environment to hear other perspectives. Being close to those with different viewpoints has opened my mind and sometimes changed it (and sometimes reinforced it), but either way it’s been an expanding experience. I sometimes … Read more
NOTE: This is Part Two of a series about Plan-B Theatre, which offers a glimpse of the four new productions for the 27th season. For Part One, see here. “We want a beginning of the story. And we go as far ahead in the future as we can. We want an end to the story. … Read more
NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series about Plan-B Theatre, which just completed its 26th anniversary. Part 2 will preview the company’s 2017-2018 season. As audaciously experimental as Plan-B Theatre’s silver anniversary season was last year, the small theatre company in Salt Lake City set forth in its 26th season an original, rare, … Read more