Latest news with #Lyceum
Epoch Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Words for Our Time: Lincoln's Lyceum Address
On Jan. 27, 1838, a tall, lanky lawyer But there are other reasons, matters pertinent to today's politics and culture, that Americans should take a look at Lincoln's Lyceum address. Starting With Gratitude
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ralph Fiennes is utterly compelling in David Hare's smart new play
For all his routinely acclaimed screen performances (latterly Conclave, The Return and 28 Years Later), Ralph Fiennes is a consummate theatre animal. And he lays claim to that terrain with zeal in an ambitious three-pronged season in Bath that begins with him incarnating – in accomplished style – one of the giants of the Victorian stage – Henry Irving (1838-1905). Grace Pervades, a new play by David Hare (with whom he has collaborated much of late), centres on the professional and personal relationship that flowered between Irving and fellow luminary Ellen Terry during his legendary tenure (1878-1899) running the Lyceum in the West End as a multi-tasking actor-manager. With Miranda Raison (formerly of Spooks fame) bringing charm and, yes, grace to the role of actress Terry, there's ample to snare our attention. Do we need so much on shifting theatre trends? Arguably not, but that's no reason to miss out on a play of pervasive insight that successfully evokes a bygone era of tremendous thespian industry, innovation and celebrity. Irving – the first actor to be awarded a knighthood – had his detractors as well as his admirers, the latter group including the Telegraph's Clement Scott, who hailed his Hamlet as a 'noble contribution to dramatic art'. Interestingly, Hare puts some of the fiercest criticism of Irving's limitations – his mind more impressive than his body – in the actor's own mouth. Fiennes's stiff, stooped Irving, with dragging leg and scholarly sweep of hair, woos Terry to join his Lyceum venture on the basis that her joyful radiance will compensate for his natural tendency to dourness (Fiennes is now a past master at a tragicomic air of careworn melancholy). That his instincts about Terry are correct gets amply proven in Jeremy Herrin's fleet production (replete with scenic transformations): in swift succession, a decorously attired, refulgent Raison spellbinds as Portia, Lady Macbeth and Viola. Prone to self-doubt too, Terry frets that Irving's silence about her Ophelia is a sign of dislike; in fact, it's because he is in awe. The script – Hare's dialogue is characteristically crisp – catches the handed-on wonders of the art form, along with its innate requirement to change. But there's something muted about the pair's disputes over Terry's under-nourishing supporting roles and frustrated yearning to play Rosalind (one notes that Fiennes directs As You Like It next). Still, the full, fascinating complexity of their necessarily covert close personal bond is left for us to surmise. Nor do we get to see this leading classical actor donning the mantle of Irving the full-blooded Shakespearean. The focus darts often to Terry's estimable (illegitimate) offspring – Edward Gordon Craig and Edith Craig. Jordan Metcalfe is enjoyably bumptious as theatre's self-appointed, theorising saviour, while Ruby Ashbourne Serkis is likeably grounded as his equally pioneering sister. Other passing dramatis personae include Isadora Duncan and Konstantin Stanislavski. Hare is too good a writer for us to feel that he has bitten off more than we can chew. But he could afford to give the big draw – the veiled power-couple romance at the evening's heart – even more room to breathe, and blaze. Until July 19. Tickets: Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Scotsman
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Royal Lyceum Theatre: The 'dedicated' Edinburgh theatre boss standing down after six years
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A director of a major Scottish theatre is to step down after six years in the role. Mike Griffiths, who took up the position of joint chief executive and executive director in 2019, is to leave the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With more than 40 years of experience working in theatre, Mr Griffiths started at the theatre in May 2019, where he navigated it through the Covid-19 pandemic, re-emerging into a turbulent funding landscape for the arts in Scotland. Mr Griffiths's past roles include nine years as administrative director of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and interim chief executive at Horsecross Arts in Perth. His impending departure was announced at the theatre's official new season programme launch. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Lyceum has recently welcomed James Brining as artistic director, replacing David Greig. Mike Griffiths is standing down as joint chief executive and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. | Stuart Armitt He said: 'It has been a real privilege to work at The Lyceum over the last six years. It has been challenging, but the support of the Lyceum team and board has been invaluable. I know that with James Brining leading the company, The Lyceum will continue to flourish.' Mr Brining said: 'Mike has made a huge contribution to The Lyceum over his time as executive director. From making changes to internal processes and practice, steering through the challenges of the pandemic and working collaboratively across the city and the sector, Mike has always supported and advocated for the idea of producing the best theatre here in Edinburgh, for Scotland and the world. 'A dedicated internationalist and a source of insight and wisdom always tempered by kindness and warmth, we will miss Mike very much, but wish him well on his next adventure.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Chair of the board of directors, Tari Lang, said: 'Mike has had his steady hand on the tiller and provided calm leadership during good and challenging times for the Lyceum, through the pandemic and subsequent funding challenges.
Scotsman
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Iconic Scottish city pub to be recreated as musical writer vows to 'restore story of One Day to Edinburgh'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Iconic Edinburgh pub The Pear Tree is to be recreated on stage in the musical of One Day to be premiered in the capital. Writer David Greig, who is adapting the book for the theatre, said the well-known venue would be the basis for the pub scene where characters Emma and Dexter first meet as students at the University of Edinburgh. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad David Greig, former artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, is adapting novel One Day into a musical. The world premiere of the new musical version of the bestselling novel by David Nicholls, which was last year adapted as a series for Netflix, is to open next year at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Speaking at the Lyceum's programme launch for next season, Mr Greig said he had also taken inspiration from tourist attraction the Camera Obscura in staging the play, which will see the 140-year-old auditorium transformed into a theatre in the round, with audience members on both sides of a newly constructed stage. Mr Greig, who recently left his role as artistic director of the Lyceum to be replaced by James Brining, said one challenge in adapting One Day was that it doesn't have a clear 'world', like many other stage shows. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall star as Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew as Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley in the new Netflix series One Day, which is based on author David Nicholls' best-selling novel. The novel is being turned into a stage musical. Picture: Netflix He said: 'If you go to see Guys and Dolls, it's 47th Street, New York in the 1940s. So you get a designer and you design that world. But what is the 'world' of two young people who meet in Edinburgh in 1988 - then one is going around the world and the other is in Salford and then they're in London? They're just in 'Britain' in the '90s and early 2000s, so that creates quite a problem. 'If you've got a scene change and it's just a year ahead and she's working in a restaurant, it's so pedantic. What we want to do is create something where the audience are in the pub where they're graduating. Secretly, it's the Pear Tree, that's what's in my head. 'There will be this feeling that you [the audience] are in the room. And what we want to do is have Emma and Dexter in a circle of light, just following them.' He added: 'I feel we are restoring it to being an Edinburgh story. I don't know many other popular novels that mention Rankeillor Street.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Greig said the atmosphere of the staging had been inspired by the Camera Obscura on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, a Victorian invention that projects a real time image of the city onto a viewing table using light and lenses. He said: 'In the Camera Obscura, you peer down and you look at people in real life walking down the High Street and you can spy on them. 'I wanted us to feel like the only two people who didn't know they were in a play are Emma and Dexter. Everybody else is playing different parts and they're moving things around and it's very theatrical. But in the middle of it, there is this couple and their story.' The Lyceum has been turned into a theatre in the round before, during the Covid pandemic, for the staging of Life Is a Dream, when audience members were required to be socially distanced. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Greig said: 'We were trying to do social distancing, we weren't able to get a lot of audience in, but I loved the look of it. I thought it was amazing, so that stayed in my mind.'
The Herald Scotland
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
A pin sharp soprano with elegant strings: Review of Scottish Ensemble
Keith Bruce After a rural start in Perthshire and Strathpeffer, the Scottish Ensemble's 'Concerts for a Summer's Night' is touring visual arts venues of Scotland's cities with a sonically-colourful soiree that spans the centuries. Ditching their concert blacks for mostly white clothing, the instrumentalists have as their guest soloist soprano Heloise Werner, a performer who focuses attention with her animated reading of Barbara Strozzi as much as in her own experimental compositions. Hers is not a huge voice, but its pure tone and pin-sharp accuracy sit well with the elegant playing of Jonathan Morton's string group. Read More 'This play is a sensation' - Review: The Mountaintop, Lyceum Review: Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed, Pitlochry Festival Theatre Much-loved TV detective takes to the stage but does it work? Lithuanian Antanas Rekasius provides the arresting opener, a movement from the composer's tongue-in-cheek Music for Strings setting the exploratory tone of the evening. It finds more familiar form in the music of Stravinsky and Ravel, as well as new experiences like Lisa Illean's clever instrumental settings of Gilles Binchois's Chansons and Tom Coult's response to the Baroque ground bass. The reverberant acoustic of Kelvingrove added an additional challenge to the music-making, and where it worked – as in the chorale of Julie Pinel's Cantatille, as arranged for Werner by Marianne Schofield – it was an ally to the performance. In some other respects, and prosaically in the audibility of Morton's stage announcements, it was less helpful. The soprano's own compositions and recordings, which are released on Scotland's Delphian label, provide the programme's most original content, most obviously the improvisation of the wittily-titled Unspecified Intentions. Her Lullaby for a Sister is echoed by Morton's equally lovely arrangement of Pauline Viardot's Lullaby and Errollyn Wallen's melodious Tree provides the climax of the recital. For the Glasgow concert that was achieved with some last minute re-ordering of the programme, which sacrificed some potentially-interesting juxtapositions to create different ones, and the true purpose of which did not become apparent until the arrival of the unlisted encore. That is of the Danish String Quartet's version of the English folk tune As I Walked Out, which ends with the players doing exactly that, whistling the refrain as they stride off stage through the audience. The final performance of the tour is at V&A Dundee on Monday at 8pm.
