the arts online this week - oct 25-31

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Almeida Theatre
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Scoring a ticket to Yaël Farber's production of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth at London's Almeida Theatre is no easy task, even though the run has already been extended to Nov 27, but there will be five live-streamed shows so audiences worldwide can get to see James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan as one of Shakespeare’s most notorious couples. Yael Farber has directed an elemental production about a world in transformation, the shadows in all of us, and one couple’s spine-chilling quest for power.

Four-time Academy Award-nominated Saoirse Ronan makes her UK stage debut as Lady Macbeth opposite Olivier Award-nominee James McArdle in the title role.
Oct 27-Oct 30 Live streams 7pm and 1.30pm matinee. £15 /£25

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Der Rosenkavalier – Garsington Opera
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Der Rosenkavalier is the most ambitious opera that Garsington has ever presented, celebrating their 10th anniversary at Wormsley. The achievement of Bruno Ravella’s new production of Richard Strauss’ masterpiece, with all the forces required to do justice to this jewel, during a pandemic, was widely acclaimed as quite remarkable.
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Miah Persson is making her role debut as the Marschallin alongside Hanna Hipp as Octavian and Derrick Ballard making his Garsington Opera debut as Baron Ochs. The Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by Jordan de Souza, who is appearing at Garsington for the first time.

The premiere will be on YouTube at 6pm (UK time) on Saturday 30 October, and if you miss it, you can catch up for 6 months thereafter on www.operavision.com.

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Hamlet – Young Vic
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OK. A Black, female Hamlet at The Young Vic. Why not? The highly-anticipated production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, with  Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife, The Good Fight) making her Young Vic debut as a new kind of Hamlet.  Cush Jumbo reunites with her long-time collaborator, director  Greg  Hersov, to bring us this tale of power, politics and desire. At least, that's how it's described by the Young Vic. Personally, after a lifetime of seeing many, many productions of Hamlet, I don't think it's about any of those. Watch and decide for yourself.
  
Four livestream performances of this in-person production of Hamlet, starring Cush Jumbo in the title role with Adrian Dunbar as Claudius. The Young Vic is trying a fascinating experiment with this production. You can either watch a traditional video capture of the stage action (called the Director’s Cut) or you can choose, moment to moment which camera you want to watch. This is called ‘The best seat in your house’ or the Director’s Chair, and you can choose which version to watch, when you book.
It’s live, not on demand, in British Summer Time, so be sure you check the time in your timezone.
Oct. 28-29 7pm BST  Oct 30 2pm and 7pm BST £15

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Song For Nature - London Climate Change Festival
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In a celebration of the beauty of the natural world, and strategically produced ahead of the COP26 Climate Change Conference, Song for Nature is a specially curated concert with a spectacular all-star cast, featuring performances sung and spoken by many of the greats in the theatre and entertainment industry.
 
Brainchild of the indefatigable Janie Dee for the London Climate Change Festival, and directed by Dominic Dromgoole, Song for Nature was conceived to raise awareness of climate change and includes Rob Brydon, Sheila Atim, David Suchet, Akram Khan, Michelle Terry, Brian May, Danielle De Niese, Gerald Finley, Beth Porch, Nathan Evans and many more, together at The London Coliseum with the ENO Orchestra and Chorus.
Song For Nature is a triumph of effort and artistic flair conceived and achieved in lockdown in the name of Mother Earth.
 
Here’s the rundown:
An introduction from Sir David Suchet, Royal Ballet principal artist Marcelino Sambé performing a solo choreographed by William Tuckett, Akram Khan performing an extract from DESH, accompanied by a choir of children singing Alleluia by Jocelyn Pook, Rob Brydon CBE singing Lullaby, Brian May CBE and Kerry Ellis, Nathan Evans will sing his sea shanty, Wellerman, Readings from environmental texts from Michelle Terry, Sheila Atim, Sir David Suchet and Jonah Hauer King. Danielle de Niese singing the title song, Song for Nature, London Voices performing Rachel Portman's Earth Song with Madeliene Pattenheim, Britain’s Got Talent and NHS nurse Beth Porch will sing Resolution Song, ENO Chorus singing Will Todd's Renewal, Dominic Norman performing Stephen Sondheim’s Our Time with the company,Tsemaye Bob-Egbe performing Kander and Ebb’s Mein Herr accompanied by a chorus of dancers, Gerald Finley singing Aria from A Cunning Little Vixen, Jenny Hayes singing The Frog, in a duet with Gerald Finley, Janie Dee performing Kander and Ebb’s Yes, Say Yes, Sam Lee and his Nest Collective performing classic British folk songs
 
Amazing line-up, isn’t it? Only in the UK, US and China on 28/29 Oct  £10

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St Nicholas - Conor McPherson
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In Conor McPherson's strange and compelling solo play, a cynical and jaded drama critic (Bruce du Bose) falls for a beautiful young actress. On a drunken bender one weekend he pursues her to London, where he falls in with a coven of modern-day vampires. Is it a drunken fairytale or his own vision of a higher truth?
Storytelling at its spooky best comes to life in this haunting solo story.
On demand access Oct 20-24, Oct 27-31, and Nov 3-7
24hr rental $18.50

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Seneca and the Soul of Nero – Show Share
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Marcus Aurelius Seneca, the stoic philosopher and dramatist, takes drastic measures to rein in his student -- the emperor, Nero, and in his quest to save Rome, Seneca writes some of his most enduring plays. Focused on the power and failures of political insiders, Seneca and the Soul of Nero reveals the dark underbelly of both ancient and modern politics. By Marcia Eppich-Harris for the Southbank Theatre Company.
Oct 15 - Nov 14  $20 + $3.95 service fee  

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Liminal – Washington Ballet
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Choreographer Stanton Welch Is the Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet and recently made his Washington Ballet debut with liminal.

In this work for 16 dancers, Stanton Welch takes inspiration from the meditative qualities of ballet practice. By definition, liminal is the transitional or initial stage of a process. As the cinematic work opens, the camera, unseen, trains on dancers entering the studio, warming up to prepare for class before easing into a powerfully elegant and reflective ballet centered around the rituals of the art form–the repetition, the corrections, the giving and receiving of knowledge.

The three-part, 15-minute work is set to 19th-century French composer Erik Satie’s Trois Gymnopédies, among the most serene and powerfully simple works in the piano repertoire. “The plié, the tendu, the arabesque–those are the ballet building blocks and those are what we’ve missed this past year,” reflects Welch. “Without the lights, the sets and costumes, dancers reveal themselves as individual artists and as human beings; it is poignant and beautiful in its simplicity. liminal celebrates ballet’s essence in a way that reminds me of a stripped-down acoustic set.” Filmed in natural light in The Washington Ballet’s studios at THEARC, liminal, is the newest commissioned work from one of America’s premiere ballet choreographers.

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