Theatre

Theatre has to fight to survive in the increasingly crowded market of multi-media entertainment on offer, including cinema, TV, DVD's, internet surfing and online social networking. So it would be wise to play to its strengths – bearing in mind it's hard to beat the thrill of a live performance.
Its appeal relies partly on the special atmosphere of a shared experience, the immediacy of the interaction between performers and their audience.
The wide variety of drama now available on TV has led to viewers becoming increasingly sophisticated. Chances are they will be able to spot an obvious plot twist a mile off. So traditional theatres which still rely on a safe but predictable repertoire of comedies and whodunits may find their audiences dwindling.
Hence the call for "cutting edge drama" - cracking scripts which are spot-on in capturing current trends and ideas in evolution. A small theatre company can turn around a selection of short, sharp scripts and take them from page to stage in a matter of months. (Compare this to the year or more it takes to bring a movie or TV series to our screens.)
There is a thriving fringe theatre culture in and around London, where smaller venues offer an intimate and informal atmosphere, often pub-based, providing an opportunity to combine a few drinks with a reasonably-priced evening’s entertainment.
While cinema audiences may be lured by the latest blockbuster, theatre-goers are often more discerning, seeking an experience which will make them sit on the edge of their seats not through a car chase ending in a huge explosion, but through the verbal fireworks of dramatic conflict between well-depicted characters.
Stage and screen don’t have to be in direct competition - there is a symbiotic relationship developing between them. Stage plays can become screenplays, and vice versa. One way to attract movie-goers to the theatre is to put one of their idols on stage. Getting a celebrity in the cast is a great way to generate publicity and good box office returns.
Why do movie stars choose to tread the boards for a fraction of their usual salary? For the kudos, the physical and mental challenge of performing live every night and above all, the rapt attention of a live audience, the adulation, the applause.
Surprise, shock, laughter, tears, a roller coaster of emotional responses, all the ingredients of classic theatre, as first advocated by the dramatists of ancient Greece, are just as important today. But for theatre to remain relevant to modern audiences, the basic rules of survival apply – evolve, adapt and move with the times.

Zeitgeist Grand Slam

Zeitgeist Theatre offered up a packed performance of 16 short plays on one night for its Grand Slam at the Bedford, a large pub in Balham housing a theatre in the round.

The two most popular pieces of the evening were humourous ones - Le Sub Text, by Caroline Gold, served up the under-currents of a couple's conversation in a restaurant, with a soupcon of sarcasm from a supercilious waiter; while Clown Noir revealed the dark underbelly of comedy as a purple-haired clown laid aside his modelling balloons and opted for the foam-filled finale of custard's last stand.

Given the time limit of five minutes per slot, several writers went for comedy sketches such as Career Train Wreck by Ben Macnair - a graduate's dream of a glittering career struggles to stay on track.

On a more serious note, the English Class by Rachel Lawrence was based on events she encountered while teaching English to refugees and battered women.

Zeitgeist Theatre

http://www.zeitgeisttheatre.com/

Cutting edge new writing -

"the spirit of the age"

A selection of 16 short plays

in a packed evening of entertainment

Bedford Globe Theatre, Balham

Sunday 28 October at 8pm

Quotation marks

quotation-marks.blogspot.com

For people who are picky about punctuation, a collection of examples of inappropriate use of quotation marks. Some of them are quite funny, such as the ice cream van with the slogan "happy" children. Does this serve as a disclaimer reminding purchasers that the instant gratification of an ice cream doesn't buy lasting happiness?

What's on TV

The fallow summer season of watch-paint-dry TV is now at an end and the Autumn schedules are upon us. Steel yourselves for a plethora of programming in the familiar settings of police stations and hospitals. Sometimes one dead body or deadly disease just isn't enough, it has to be nothing short of serial killings or a horrific accident with ambulance-loads of casualties.

So what's worth watching in the hospital wing? Hugh Laurie makes a welcome return as Greg House, nobly managing the double impediment of walking with a limp and affecting an American accent. It's scary what they do to patients who have the misfortune to contract a mysterious illness. Fishing for clues, frequent misdiagnoses and throwing a cocktail of drugs in the mix often results in a near-death experience, shortly followed by a visionary moment in which the correct cure is found at the eleventh hour.

There's a new series of Gray's Anatomy, which continues in the same vein, but the spin-off, Private Practice, featuring Addison (the redhead) hasn't met with favourable reviews.

On the crime scene, Dexter made a grisly debut, but redeems itself with a gripping plotline, interesting characters and a dash of black humour.

The trend towards detective work with a paranormal twist continues - Medium (she sees it coming) the Dresden Files ( a female cop teams up with a wizard) Blood Ties (a female cop teams up with a vampire) and Saving Grace (a female cop meets her guardian angel).

As all these are American it's only fair to mention, Life on Mars - cops in a retro alternate reality - and there is talk of a spin-off.

Moving away from the police station but within the parameters of the paranormal is the much-hyped Heroes, now set for s econd series. The first series saw ex- Dr Who Christopher Eccleston put in appearance as the invisible man (yes that may sound like a contradiction in terms, but he is visible some of the time).

Talking of the Doctor, I hear that David Tennant is to stay on for a while, which I hope will be the case as I've grown accustomed to his face and don't want the dear old doctor to get a new one yet. (I know he has undergone more transformations than a cat has lives, but isn't he getting towards the end of his allowance now?)

Anyway, on the whole, while there is much re-working of tried and trusted themes, it seems there is also a little room for some innovative ideas and fresh new drama.

Treasury of Unusual Words

"Podiacide" : The metaphorical act of shooting oneself in the foot.

B/S - "Bovine scatology": euphemism coined by American general Norman Schwarzkopf

"Kakistocracy" : A system of government in which the rulers are the least competetent, least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Definitions from Foyle's Philavery: A Treasury of Unusual Words, by Christopher Foyle.