John Fisher is a busy man. Actor, playwright, and Executive Director of Theatre Rhinoceros, the longest running queer theater in the world. Simultaneously. Such a workload prompted me to ask him when he found time to sleep when we spoke on May 12, 2017. The larger subject was Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Priscilla, Queen of… Read More »
THE SOUNDING — Catherine Eaton and Teddy Sears Interview
I sometimes warn the people I’m interviewing that I have a tendency to read way too much into things. When I did that before starting my phone conversation with Catherine Easton and Teddy Sears on March 3, 2017 about their film, THE SOUNDING, they both assured me that everything I read into the film was… Read More »
Al Pacino Exalts THE HUMBLING
THE HUMBLING is a throwback to a time when attention spans were longer, characters were created out of complex and even contradictory behaviors, and the story was an extension of the characters, not a glib contrivance. Based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Philip Roth, it is a study of Simon Axler, an actor crumbling as he feels his craft drifting away leaving him in limbo between reality and delusion, comedy and tragedy, meaning and nothingness.
Richard Linklater Richard & Christian McKay on ME AND ORSON WELLES
ME AND ORSON WELLES is a fascinating glimpse of what it might have been like to work with Welles during his enfant terrible period. The film, interesting though the subject matter is, succeeds because of the way Christian McKay become Welles in all his brilliant, infuriating glory. The first thing I wanted to know when I talked… Read More »
Ralph Fiennes is CORIOLANUS
When I spoke to Ralph Fiennes in London by phone, the first thing we talked about was the remarkable 1984 Royal National Theatre staging of Coriolanus in 1984 starring Ian McKellan. We had both seen it and one of the high points of talking to Fiennes was the way he recalled McKellan’s performance as only… Read More »
Tom Weidlinger Has A DREAM IN HANOI
I doubt that there’s ever been a documentary quite like Tom Weidlinger’s A DREAM IN HANOI. It follows the collaboration between an American theater company with a Vietnamese on on a production of Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS’ DREAM staged in Vietnam, and performed partly in English and partly in Vietnamese. The cast and crew blend… Read More »
Amy Acker & Alexis Denisof talk MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
It was, as you can imagine, delightful to see Fred and Wesley together again. And though there was much to discuss about the Whedonverse, when I spoke to Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof on April 28, 2013, it was not for talking about their previous pairing as the star-crossed Fred and Wesley on Joss Whedons… Read More »