“As two plays set amid the 1960s gay rights movement open in London, their writers, Jon Bradfield and Thomas Hescott, discuss charting gay life before their time and why theatre is a good place to explore oppression.”
Archives for February 21, 2014
Ballerinas Weren’t Always Required to Be So Thin (So We Should Stop Demanding It Now)
Judith Mackrell: “A century ago, weight was never so contentious. While ballerinas were inclined to be more slender than the norm, … those dancers were not expected to be excessively thin. … It was in the mid-1920s that attitudes to dancers’ bodies shifted.”
Lisa Gasteen, Back From the Vocal Dead
Late in the ’00s, the Australian dramatic soprano was going through a vocal crisis so severe that she expected never to sing in public again. Now she’s back at work, thanks to determination, physical therapy and Botox. (She’s lost quite a bit of weight and founded a vocal academy to boot.)
Bedtime Stories by the Dear Leader
“North Korea’s leaders are often thought of as ruthless, secretive autocrats but rarely as popular children’s authors. However, between issuing instructions about prison camps and the development of nuclear weapons, Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather apparently found time to write stories for the young.”