All stories by Laura Cappelle on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

'I don't conform': backstage with the indomitable Isabelle Huppert by Laura Cappelle

The French star’s fearless performances – and work ethic – are the stuff of legend. In her dressing room, she talks about the pain of theatre, acting in English and #MeToo In 2005, day…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:54PM
Friday, March 6, 2020

With a 7-Hour Saga, Robert Lepage Returns to Safer Ground by Laura Cappelle

The Canadian director’s “The Seven Streams of the River Ota” is set for a world tour, after his most recent productions were embroiled in debates about cultural appropriation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:24AM
Thursday, March 5, 2020

These Women-Led Works Are the Right Plays at the Right Time by Laura Cappelle

France’s movie business is consumed by debates about gender inequality. Onstage, female theatermakers are bringing women’s stories to the fore.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:24AM
Thursday, February 20, 2020

Star Directors Pull Back the Curtain on How They Work by Laura Cappelle

Peter Brook and Thomas Ostermeier are presenting unfinished shows in Paris, offering a rare chance to see how their productions come together.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:36AM
Thursday, February 6, 2020

A Hallowed French Company Takes on ‘Angels in America’ by Laura Cappelle

And elsewhere in Paris, smaller theaters take more radical cues from the L.G.B.T.Q. world.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:42AM
Monday, January 6, 2020

Trigger Warnings as a Provocateur Puts Suicide Onstage by Laura Cappelle

Milo Rau’s latest work is inspired by a French family whose members took their own lives.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:12AM

Arnaud Desplechin: 'Theatre is for the bourgeois. Film is the art of rascals!' by Laura Cappelle

The revered film director vowed never to touch theatre. So why is he staging the great Aids epic Angels in America? Apparently, it’s all a misunderstanding Arnaud Desplechin looks surprisi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:06AM
Wednesday, December 18, 2019

It's derriere you! A French critic gives her take on three madcap pantos by Laura Cappelle

Do you have to be British to get panto? We sent a French critic to three shows full of cross-dressing dames and adults playing cows. Will she ever forget the experience? Oh no she won’t! S…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AM
Thursday, December 5, 2019

For Entertaining Musicals, Look No Further Than … Paris by Laura Cappelle

The genre has long been seen as minor in the French capital, but a string of English-language productions is creating a pleasingly upbeat dynamic.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:54AM
Thursday, November 14, 2019

Strange Plays for Strange Times by Laura Cappelle

Several French theater productions are putting dark spins on everyday events.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:36AM
Thursday, October 24, 2019

In Characters Ancient and Contemporary, Women Discover Their Power Onstage by Laura Cappelle

In Paris, the mythological Greek character Electra can once again be found in a theater, while the heroine of a quirky new play is inspired by “Rocky III.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24AM
Thursday, October 3, 2019

‘Orlando’ Awkwardly Transitions to the Stage by Laura Cappelle

Kate Mitchell’s adaptation of the 1928 novel is consistently one step behind Virginia Woolf’s mercurial prose.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:36AM
Thursday, September 19, 2019

A Paris Theater Reopens, With Acrobats and Stunts by Laura Cappelle

The long-awaited spectacle that relaunched the Théâtre du Châtelet was cheerful, but disappointing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:42AM
Thursday, August 22, 2019

Rewriting the Rules of Drag in Paris by Laura Cappelle

There is a cross-dressing show for everyone in the city, from traditional cabarets to RuPaul-inspired productions.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM
Friday, August 2, 2019

Venice Has a Biennale for Theater, Too by Laura Cappelle

Despite a history stretching to 1934, it feels like a David to the art exhibition’s Goliath. But its program is all the better for that.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:24AM

Oona Doherty: 'I’m so blessed, but I don’t have a clue what’s going on' by Laura Cappelle

The Northern-Irish choreographer’s raw and powerful work examines gender, identity and religion, but it all happens by accident, she says. Oona Doherty is finding out about the law of unin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AM
Thursday, July 18, 2019

At Avignon Festival, Competition Comes From the Fringe by Laura Cappelle

An underwhelming official lineup led many festivalgoers to branch out into the less well-known complimentary program.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:36AM
Thursday, June 27, 2019

Putting ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ Onstage by Laura Cappelle

Two adaptations of works by the writer Marguerite Duras are playing as one-woman shows in Paris.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:42AM
Monday, June 17, 2019

'People think it's a nest of vipers!' Inside the illustrious Comédie-Française by Laura Cappelle

The Parisian theatre company is on a rare visit to the UK with Ivo van Hove’s The Damned. What are the secrets of the world’s oldest active troupe? Companies like nothing more than to re…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM
Thursday, June 6, 2019

A French Festival Where the Actor Is King by Laura Cappelle

The Printemps des Comédiens festival features productions uniquely crafted for, and occasionally by, their performers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:12AM
Friday, May 24, 2019

What Does It Take for a Woman to Be Labeled Mad? Onstage, Not Much. by Laura Cappelle

Tales of women losing their grip on reality don’t exist in a void. They fit into broader cultural narratives.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:06AM
Thursday, May 2, 2019

Theater Review: Forget ‘Game of Thrones.’ No One Does Violence Like Euripides. by Laura Cappelle

Two productions in Paris with their roots in the Greek playwright’s works explore the nature of human brutality. But without any CGI effects.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:06AM
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Theater Review: Onstage in Paris, Two Directors Overreach by Laura Cappelle

Simon Stone and Stanislas Nordey present productions in which their ambitions get the better of them.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:15AM
Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Orgies, revenge, sex on a coffin: Australia's Dangerous Liaisons sizzles by Laura Cappelle

Liam Scarlett’s raunchy staging of the novel for Queensland Ballet is partly a response to its distance from London, he says It’s not often you see sex on top of a coffin on stage, but t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:46AM
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Alexis Michalik: golden boy of French theatre with a nose for a hit by Laura Cappelle

The actor turned playwright is taking his work to the UK for the first time. He talks about his Shakespeare in Love-style comedy riffing on Cyrano de Bergerac Alexis Michalik has much in com…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:26AM
Thursday, February 7, 2019

Onstage in France: Spanish Takes on Sex, Violence and Social Change by Laura Cappelle

The annual Reims Scènes d’Europe festival showcases contemporary creation from around Europe. This year, it is focused on emerging artists from Spain.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:48AM
Friday, January 18, 2019

Theater Review: On Paris Stages, Gay Artists Look Back by Laura Cappelle

A new theatrical work by Christophe Honoré and an adaptation of a novel by Didier Eribon see prominent French gay artists reclaim their origins with striking honesty.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:24AM
Wednesday, January 16, 2019

'We kept the trauma to ourselves': Christophe Honoré on the idols lost to Aids by Laura Cappelle

The French writer-director talks about his highly personal new show, a ‘dance of the dead’ that pays tribute to artistic heroes including Jacques DemyDirector Christophe Honoré still lo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PM
Thursday, December 20, 2018

Best (and Worst) Theater in Europe in 2018 by Matt Wolf, Laura Cappelle and A.j. Goldmann

Our three European theater critics pick their favorite productions of the year — plus a turkey for the festive season.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:04AM
Monday, December 17, 2018

Review: In Robert Lepage’s ‘Kanata,’ the Director, Too, Plays the Victim by Laura Cappelle

The Canadian stage director has seen some of his productions derailed by accusations of cultural insensitivity. In a new show in Paris, he can’t resist pointing to his own suffering.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54AM
Thursday, November 29, 2018

Theater Review: If You Don’t Know Your Noh From Your Kabuki, You Can Still Enjoy Japanese Theater by Laura Cappelle

The “Japonismes 2018” season in Paris offers an intriguing, if occasionally puzzling, window onto Japan’s rich theater scene.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48AM