Arts & Events

THURSDAY, DEC. 11 -more-

Thrusting out aggressively at the audience seated for Mark Jackson’s retrofitted Macbeth at the Ashby Stage, a Shotgun production, is the much-discussed ramp, with a marble walkway, leading back to the proscenium, an iron-bound wall of fitted stone. Inside the arch, a shining, spangled throne room, replete with light-toned Viking-modern royal seat (set by Nina Ball, lit by Jon Tracy, Sarah Huddleston’s sound), where in a dreamlike sequence like a strange commercial, or an inspirational training video gone wrong, Macbeth himself will take the crown from the wakeful king he slays, murdering sleep twice over. -more-

Oakland’s Paramount Theatre opens up a wealth of holiday presents as its two resident companies, the Oakland Ballet Company and the Oakland East Bay Symphony premiere their annual shows for the season: the Symphony’s Let Us Break Bread Together, and Ronn Guidi’s celebrated Nutcracker. -more-

Christmas Revels, “a theatrical celebration of the Winter Solistice,” with a dazzling array of the performing arts onstage at Oakland’s Scottish Rite Theater by Lake Merritt and community singing and line-dancing at the conclusion of the two acts of every show, has become a beloved holiday tradition in the 23 years California Revels has produced the annual event here. -more-

Comedians were a dime a dozen in the days of silent film, but great comedians were precious and few. The judgment of history has left us maybe a half-dozen top-notch talents, and just a few of those names are much remembered today. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are the heavy hitters of course, the names that immediately come to mind, with perhaps Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Charley Chase, and a few others lagging not so far behind in name recognition. Still others, like Laurel and Hardy, did well in silent films but are today best known for their sound work. -more-

Textual authenticity is a central issue in the work of Orson Welles. The director saw so many of his films altered in the editing room by his producers that only a few of his completed pictures can be said to represent his original intentions. -more-

Few relationships in business or in life have the potential for spattered blood like the one held between contractor and client and it is for this reason that I would like to suggest some “rules of the road (sans rage)” for both contractor and client. While everyone likes to see themselves as being reasonable, thoughtful and fair, the truth is that we all have blind spots or simply become lazy. Watch drivers on any given day and you’ll see the proof. -more-

The island of Catalina receives over a million visitors per year, but the vast majority of them go in summer and never set foot outside the principal town of Avalon. -more-

THURSDAY, DEC. 11 -more-