For its 40th anniversary, the Orson Welles-narrated documentary about Franklin D Roosevelt’s post-depression artist program is getting a vital re-release
News of Our Age Comes to Life in the Rooms of a Theater
Tired of reading the headlines? You can watch artistic interpretations of the stories of our era by trailing actors in a Living Newspaper production, section by section.
Letty Thomas, left, and Alana Jackson in “The Tree, the Leg and the Axe,” part of the Royal Court Theater’s “Living Newspaper” series of plays online.Credit.Helen Murray
April 22, 2021
LONDON Have you had enough of wading through newsprint or scrolling online? The Royal Court Theater has a bracing online alternative that refracts current events through a vibrant and eclectic array of plays that give many of today’s hot-button topics a piquant spin.
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Eric Ting remembers the chill that passed through the room when someone coughed during the California Shakespeare Theater gala in March of last year. The annual fundraising event essential to the theater’s $5 million budget was celebrating a turning point for the 47-year-old company, where Ting became artistic director in 2015: He would announce that Cal Shakes was planning to move its offices and shop from Berkeley to downtown Oakland, showing that “where we make our home reflects our priorities,” and he would describe ways the company would be collaborating with community partners. “It was kind of a seminal moment,” Ting says.1
The Living Newspaper, Edition 4Royal Court, online★★★I’ve always liked agit-prop theatre, stagings that are rough-and-ready round the edges, but which directly and angrily address the issues of today