Sunday, July 15, 2007

Suggested Further Reading

As you may have noticed we're having some "quiet time" at the moment - a kind of calm before the storm. I've taken the chance to expand my reading of other theatre blogs, and although we don't really want to add loads of additional links to our sidebar on every page, I guess you could consider this post "suggested further reading".

The Guardian Theatre Blog is usually good value - particularly when Lyn Gardner is writing the articles. Topical discussion and you can expect many familiar faces from other theatre blogs to pop in with comments. Just don't mention public funding of the Arts - I did once and didn't remotely get away with it...

Interval Drinks
can be relied on for regular reviews with entertaining commentary but not at the expense of fairness.

I've mentioned Fin Kennedy's blog in our Fringe Preview as we're seeing his "Mehndi Night" in Edinburgh. Sadly Fin has a self imposed 'ban' on providing much more than an outline of his thoughts on the theatre he sees, but the blog is a fascinating insight for those of us with little appreciation of what it is to be a playwright.

Similar insight can be found in the writings of David Eldridge at One Writer and his Dog along with coverage of wider theatre issues.

Andrew Field's The Arcades Project is always worth reading as it's well written and thought provoking.

Sean Raczka's Sean in the Stalls gets to see a huge amount of London theatre, and writes reviews in some depth. He also has the most incredible schedule of reviews planned for the Edinburgh Fringe.

Butts in the Seats
can be guaranteed to produce thoughtful posts on theatre management, marketing and audience involvement amongst others. Although US based, many of the issues discussed are just as relevant here.

Mark Shenton over at The Stage is also worth a read on a regular basis, although there's a little too much about Musicals for my taste!

And a few others I'm currently getting to know...
Postcards from the Gods is a new blog but I like what I've seen so far, and I've also recently discovered Persons Unknown. The Scottish Theatre Forum now has its own blog for highlighting current activity and is worth keeping an eye on, as does TAG Theatre which has lots of interesting pieces about TAG and the Citz.

I think that covers most of the theatre based ones I've been reading regularly, but if that isn't enough, I find most of those on the West End Whingers blogroll worth a look. And if anyone knows of a UK theatre blog that's on a par with Alison Croggan's Australian based Theatre Notes, please, please let us know.

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