It is reported today in the Evening Standard that the Royal Court’s artistic director Ian Rickson is to stand down next year, after overseeing the Court’s 50th anniversary season. Rickson, who succeed Stephen Daldry into the role after directing one of the Court’s biggest commercial successes of the 90s, Conor McPherson’s The Weir, has been in the post since 1998; by the time he leaves, he will have therefore have been there for some 8 years.
Though that doesn’t rival the decade-long regime of Richard Eyre at the National or 13 years of Peter Hall who preceded Eyre, the Court is younger and more cutting-edge than the National, since its mission is almost exclusively new writing and the promotion and development of new writers. As a theatre is always first and foremost about the taste of the artistic director – and the collaborations he or she inspires – a turn-over in this key position could see a radical shift in the direction that the theatre takes.
Rickson’s own meticulous work as a director has tended towards the small domestic canvas, rather than the large public or political stage; and while My Name is Rachel Corrie – returning to the main house this month after premiering at the Theatre Upstairs earlier this year – is a potently political work (directed and co-adapted by Alan Rickman), as was this summer’s offering of former Court Artistic Director Max Stafford-Clark’s Out of Joint’s touring production of Talking to Terrorists, this sort of programming seems to have been the exception rather than the rule lately in Sloane Square.
But even though having to carry such a huge responsibility for setting the agenda of new writing inevitably attracts sniping, the Royal Court has consistently found worthwhile plays under him, and nurtured important careers like that of Richard Bean whose current play Harvest (running to this weekend in the main house) is the play of the year, so far, at least in my opinion. Yes, there have been some major missteps, too – such as giving house room to Tim Fountain’s feebly self-indulgent (in every sense) Sex Addict – but nevertheless Rickson will be a tough act to follow.
Comment from an American performing artist, on the New York Theatre Workshop decision to “postpone” the production of “My Name is Rachel Corrie”:
Jim Nicola, the director of the NYTW, claims that he consulted with certain (unnamed) "Jewish leaders" in NY, who told him that, because Hamas had won the election in the Palestinian territories, the timing was inappropriate.
Not mentioned in this rationale is the fact that Rachel Corrie had nothing to do with Hamas. The play doesn’t discuss the intifada directly, although the issue at stake, the destruction of 50,000 Palestinian homes by bulldozers coming from the Illinois –based Caterpillar Corporation, obviously is not unconnected to the insurgency.
Rather the play is about a journey of self-discovery, starting at age 10,undertaken by a youthful idealist who, rightly or wrongly, wisely or foolishly, suffered a horrible death from demolition machines operating in defiance of international law and common human decency.
Actually, the timing could not be better. Debate and discussion are what is most desperately needed at this moment in history. It has always been the function of theatre to provide this, now more than ever. There are dozens of ways in which the NYWT could defuse the “tensions” surrounding the presentation of My Name Is Rachel Corrie, including question and answer sessions before and after, forums at which persons on all sides of the issues could present their point of view, appearances on radio or television talk shows, and so on. Be that as it may, the NYWT has put the production of the play on hold ‘indefinitely’, whatever that means. Perhaps Mr. Nicola is waiting for the half-century ordeal of Jews and Arabs in the Near East to go away before he will deem the political atmosphere ‘safe’ enough to do so.
One has the strong suspicion that the withholding of the play has little to do with either the politics or its merits as art. Follow the money. The NYTW has a $7 million budget, and as we all know, the more dependent one is on external financing, the greater the power of those who pull the strings. NYTW of course will deny this until the coming of Armageddon. Its record in terms of dealing with the theatre culture in New York City does not redound to its credit. By employing some very dubious back-stage political muscle it manipulated a vote in the Fourth Arts Block coalition not to allow any more theatres on the block. FAB is the umbrella business association for all of the theatres (about 8) on East 4 St. between Second and Third Avenues. Listening to Jim Nicola these days he’s beginning to sound more and more like the caricature of a Washington DC politician, complete with bizarre memory lapses and many loud complaints about the ways in which he’s being misinterpreted.
Roy Lisker
Ferment Press
rlisker@gmail.com
http://www.fermentmagazine.org