The silver stage
I spend a good deal of time at the video-rental store these days: part of the prep any theatre critic has to do to keep pace with the medium's increasing reliance on movies. But, even as a former cinephile and film critic, I share the anxiety of many dramatists that theatre's current craven dependence on well-known movie titles poses a real threat to new plays.
Film and theatre, of course, have always fed off each other. Hollywood has long looked to the stage for creative talent: it was that process which, in the 1930s, led to the break-up of a radical ensemble such as the Group Theatre when John Garfield, Clifford Odets and many others were lured by the prospect of Californian gold.… Seguir leyendo »