Saturday, July 22, 2006

In London This Summer, the Hot New Play Is an Endangered Species - New York Times:

The subject was appropriate to a show that bore a crippling messianic burden. Much of the program for “On the Third Day” was devoted to an essay and statistics detailing the decline of the straight play in commercial theaters on the West End. Most telling was a comparative breakdown of the offerings of 1956 (when 23 plays were produced, including 8 new dramas and 2 revivals) and those of this year, a half-century later (11 plays, including 5 revivals, 1 new drama and 2 adaptations of novels).