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Best of This Week’s Theatre Blogs – 19 Jun 2009

| London's West End |

19 June 2009

Welcome to another new regular feature on Whatsonstage.com. Every week our theatregoer reporter Corinne Furness trawls the web to find some of the best gems from the myriad theatre-related blogs and condense them into one easy-to-read “Best of the Blogs” round-up each Friday.

It was a week when, to quote a commentator on Michael Coveney’s blog on Whatsonstage.com, bloggers were “naughtily provocative”. Mark Shenton tackled the ever-controversial question of audience behaviour while Coveney addressed those who had been included (and indeed omitted) from the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

In the US, Micacole looked at the issue of diversity in theatre – suggesting that diversity may be dead but inclusion should go much further than the stage itself.

The most blogged about topic, however, was the Edinburgh Fringe programme. After last week’s launch, it was time to wade through the “monster” of a programme, as The Edinburgh Blogsomewhat fittingly labeled it, and pick out which shows we’ll be dashing between come August.

Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com –
Happy about Birthday Awards?

“Here’s what I never understand: are these awards given because the recipient has added to the sum of the general good and happiness, or because there’s an important element of public service involved? Are indeed the two things the same?”

Mark Shenton on The Stage –
A Question of Perspective…
“Going to the theatre also sometimes depends on your relationship to those around you, too – at last week’s opening of Arcadia, a woman seated in the row in front of me had folded her legs onto her seat and her face into her lap for the last half-hour of the play – she had obviously given up on the play in defeat, and was toughing it out”.

Micacole –
Diversity is Dead
“It is important that inclusion happens on the stage and in the community and especially in the education programmes. But that is not enough. How many of you are in on making decisions that affect the future of the organisation? How many of you are being developed for leadership succession?”

Lyn Gardner on the Guardian Theatre Blog-
What to See at the Edinburgh Festival

“The more you delve into the programme, the easier it is to have second, third or even 23rd thoughts about the shows that look interesting. Until my fourth leaf through the listings, I had absolutely no idea that I had a yen to see The Merchant of Venice in a swimming pool or Three Sisters on a canal barge (at least the poor loves are actually going somewhere, although probably not as far as Moscow.)”

View From The Stalls –
Edinburgh 2009 – First Picks
“Usually the first place we start when planning our opening weekend is the Traverse … But this year we’ve been rather underwhelmed with their offerings, and as things currently stand, we won’t be booking up for any of the Fringe shows at the Traverse this year.”