Lights, camera, arias! Sell-out shows bring in new audiences and serious cash for leading opera houses
Tonight, most British cinema audiences will be settling down with a Coke and a carton of popcorn for the weekend's big movies: the latest in the Narnia franchise, perhaps, or Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist.
But not all of them. In around 80 UK cinemas, audiences will instead be preparing themselves for a performance, beamed in live by satellite from New York's Metropolitan Opera, of Verdi's Don Carlos.
You'd be lucky to get a ticket though, despite the £25 price tag (reflecting the double cinema slot occupied by these often lengthy works). Tickets are sometimes snapped up in just two hours for a screening nine months away, according to Lyn Goleby, managing director of the independent cinema chain Picturehouse. "Opera in cinema is," she says, "a phenomenon."
The Royal Opera House, eager...
Tonight, most British cinema audiences will be settling down with a Coke and a carton of popcorn for the weekend's big movies: the latest in the Narnia franchise, perhaps, or Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist.
But not all of them. In around 80 UK cinemas, audiences will instead be preparing themselves for a performance, beamed in live by satellite from New York's Metropolitan Opera, of Verdi's Don Carlos.
You'd be lucky to get a ticket though, despite the £25 price tag (reflecting the double cinema slot occupied by these often lengthy works). Tickets are sometimes snapped up in just two hours for a screening nine months away, according to Lyn Goleby, managing director of the independent cinema chain Picturehouse. "Opera in cinema is," she says, "a phenomenon."
The Royal Opera House, eager...
- 12/11/2010
- by Charlotte Higgins
- The Guardian - Film News
Want to see cutting-edge drama from Edinburgh? Then just pop into your local cinema. Andrew Dickson on why the Traverse theatre is being besieged by cameras
The Traverse theatre in Edinburgh has a cute name for this year's series of morning play readings: Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Technically, it's a misnomer – your ticket includes breakfast, or at least a bacon buttie and a splash of coffee – but in other respects the title, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, seems fair enough.
Last year, festival audiences had to endure hostage crises (a new work by Enda Walsh) and were forced to act out chunks of the script (David Greig). This year, Simon Stephens dwells on the fallout from a stabbing in T5, while Linda McLean's new play This Is Water is a verbatim account of interrogation. Quite a lot to deal with at 9am, especially if you've a hangover the size of Arthur's Seat.
The Traverse theatre in Edinburgh has a cute name for this year's series of morning play readings: Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Technically, it's a misnomer – your ticket includes breakfast, or at least a bacon buttie and a splash of coffee – but in other respects the title, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, seems fair enough.
Last year, festival audiences had to endure hostage crises (a new work by Enda Walsh) and were forced to act out chunks of the script (David Greig). This year, Simon Stephens dwells on the fallout from a stabbing in T5, while Linda McLean's new play This Is Water is a verbatim account of interrogation. Quite a lot to deal with at 9am, especially if you've a hangover the size of Arthur's Seat.
- 8/23/2010
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
For anyone who attended her terrific opener for a series of summer concerts at Kenwood House in London at the weekend, this will come as a surprise: Debbie Harry will turn 65 tomorrow. On Saturday night, she looked like a performer half that age. Helen Mirren, meanwhile, will be 65 in three weeks' time and we're alarmed to hear that she is soon to play a gun-toting badass. Have a look at the trailer for the film Red on YouTube, also starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich as ex-cia badass colleagues, to see what I mean. Phèdre, this isn't.
Debbie HarryBlondiePop and rockHelen MirrenMark Brown
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Debbie HarryBlondiePop and rockHelen MirrenMark Brown
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 6/29/2010
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
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