The Week in Performing Arts - 28/3/12

Latitude Festival’s theatre line-up has been announced, and includes theatrical greats such as Paines Plough, last year’s Fringe hit Translunar Paradise, and Complicite, who will be producing a new production called X&Y with company Twin Primes, based on their previous show A Disappearing Number. Pleasance will offer work that is set to run at the Fringe, Forest Fringe returns with a preview of some of its kooky Fringe acts, and other renowned companies such as nabokov, Les Enfants Terribles, Rash Dash and Actors Touring Company are also on the line-up.

Mike Daisey, the man behind The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (which The Yorker first spoke about here), has recently got under fire as the truth behind his monologue is questioned. Daisey rains down criticism upon the poor working conditions of Apple’s labour force, and has been described as the Michael Moore of the theatre world. However, a recent news article raised suspicions, causing a scandal that trended worldwide on Twitter over the veracity of Daisey’s claims. High Tide Theatre Festival scored the play on their line-up, but since the bad publicity, artistic director Steve Atkinson has made the decision not to retract the space but has spoken out about the furore: "Mike Daisey has chosen of his own accord to remove any content that he cannot verify. […] I don't believe that he set out to purposefully mislead the public to his own ends. […] We need to discuss how truth is positioned on stage from now on. Unfortunately, Mike has become a cautionary tale. He might not have a career after this."

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new Artistic Director has been named. Gregory Doran will be replacing Michael Boyd, and will formally take up the post in September this year. Doran is currently the Chief Associate Director, but has been in the RSC family for 25 years, having originally joined as an actor.

Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie at the Young Vic is the most eco-friendly play in the West End. With rentable programmes, no flyers, tickets or press releases and recycled props and set, the paper output of the production is only 2kg, rather than a West End’s production usual 130kg. In fact, it is more environmentally friendly to go out to this play than it is to stay at home and use up energy – a triumph for arts environment consultancy Julie’s Bicycle and the London Theatre Consortium.

There seems to be no love lost between the lyricist Tim Rice and musical theatre overlord Andrew Lloyd Webber – Rice recently confirmed that he and Lloyd Webber would not work together again. Despite having spawned some of the most successful musicals of the last 40 years, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Rice remarked that, ‘We’re not relevant as a team any more’.

Roberto Fonseca, a Cuban jazz musician, has been mentioned in this week’s Guardian Cultural Highlights, and is currently touring in Yorkshire. You can see him tonight at York Theatre Royal.

©York Theatre Royal