The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) is a medieval Japanese account of the rise and fall of the Taira clan and has inspired many other works of art. Click on the chapters and scroll down to see
Heike illustrations (or start
here), see
more art or
figures inspired by the Heike. Would you rather read?
[more inside]
posted by ersatz
on Nov 16, 2008 -
10 comments
Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as
Sarah Bernhardt, "
La Goulue" (Louise Weber;
remember this?), and
Jane Avril, who was the model for
this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos,
here,
here, and
here, and
go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits.
[Spanish language site; NUDITY]
posted by taz
on Jul 5, 2007 -
10 comments
Harold Pinter at 75. In
One for the Road, the protagonist is Nicolas,
a whisky-sodden interrogator who has brought in a family for questioning (and, it is implied, raping and torturing). In the short, sharp shock of
The New World Order, we eavesdrop on a conversation between two torturers, held over the top of their mute, blindfolded victim's head ("We haven't even finished with him. We haven't begun."). In
Ashes to Ashes, the interrogation of Rebecca by Devlin takes a sinister turn as we learn that her ex-lover participated in state-sponsored violence. In
Mountain Language, a sadistic guard plays power games with a group of mountain dwellers, who are forbidden from speaking in anything but the language of the state. In
Party Time, Pinter lampoons the smug security of the middle classes, portraying an insufferably élite party which carries on regardless of the violence and terror on the streets outside.
Now, for Pinter's 75th birthday,
some of the tormentors and the tormented so potently etched in his later plays are assembled together in a new dramatic work with a musical setting by the composer James Clarke.
posted by matteo
on Oct 7, 2005 -
12 comments
"Hi. My name is Tony Kushner, I'm a playwright ...
Ladies and Gentlemen and Supporters of
MoveOn: the first lady of the United States,
Laura Welch Bush".
About a year and a half ago
Kushner, the
Pulitzer-prize winning author of
Angels in America, published the first act of a new play,
Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy (full text). In it, Laura Bush
reads Dostoyevsky to a classroom full of ghosts of dead Iraqi children. Now,
(in Salon, I know, I know) the first lady metacriticizes Kushner's play.
(more inside)
posted by matteo
on Aug 4, 2004 -
11 comments
Tantalus , one of the longest theatrical experiences ever has finally opened in London, and according to one critic, there is no greater endurance test.
Always looking for an angle,
The Guardian sent four journalists around London on May Day to see what other culture can be experienced in 12 hours, 40 mins. Merope Mills did film -
"9:15pm. Both Dennis and Annette are working at the box office and, on seeing me again, Annette throws me the look of a concerned landlady, as in, "Haven't you had enough yet?" I, drunk on moving images, defy her concern and head straight back in. I might as well not have moved - it's straight back to screen five where I'm feeling rather territorial about the sudden influx of people. Nod off in the epic Traffic (18) for 15 minutes but dream about Michael Douglas so decide this little discrepancy still counts."
posted by feelinglistless
on May 3, 2001 -
4 comments
Text messaging is inspiring artists to new areas of creativity from theatre to sculpture, says the Guardian.
posted by jhiggy
on Apr 20, 2001 -
4 comments
