Pete Seeger, noted folk singer entertaining at the opening of the Washington labor canteen, with Eleanor Roosevelt (Source: Library of Congress) Peter Seeger was a huge influence on my life, musically, politically and spiritually. When he died at last, like…
Written in 1912, Georg Kaiser's expressionist drama From Morning to Midnight has been given a bravura treatment in a new version by Dennis Kelly. I joined the queue for day seats at 8:30 on a Wednesday, and snagged two matinee…
White Bear Theatre, London One of the highlights of our visit to London was a most ambitious production at the White Bear, a tiny pub theatre in South London. It was Women of Twilight, Sylvia Rayman's all-women play from 1951, powerfully…
The Arcola Theatre, up in rough-and-tumble Dalston, is a hotbed of alternative vitality, always trying out new ideas and approaches, politically engaged, with a perspective that spans the globe. The theatre, formerly in a rambling industrial building on Arcola Street,…
The Shed, at the National The Occupy movement in London had its camp in the square outside St. Paul's Cathedral, a location that was already occupied by "rough sleepers", the current British term for what in North Armerica are called…
Saint Paul's from across the river. So our first real day in London (December 31), we rush over to the Old Vic, and are fortunate to get tickets for Fortune's Fool by Turgenev, in a translation by Mike Poulton. There's…
It wasn't easy to get to see Richard II. It was sold out, so we figured we'd get day seats, something we're quite used to doing. We figured Saturday would be good. Two performances, matinee and evening, thirty tickets each.
The Hackney Empire I am fascinated by that strange British theatrical phenomenon called the Christmas pantomime. It's a glorious holdover from the 19th century, featuring a traditional story outrageously sent up, a "principal boy" (the hero) played by a woman…
