News lands on the arts desk that Robert Altman, grand old man of American cinema (kind of) and beard-wearer extraordinaire (definitely), is to direct at the Old Vic later this year.
It's the first time Altman has done something on the London stage, and to be honest we're racking our brains to think if he's actually directed theatre before. Guess he must have done. Last we heard he was deep in Paint.
What's tempted Altman towards the glare of the footlights and the sting of the greasepaint is the final work of another grand old man, the late lamented Arthur Miller. Like its director, Resurrection Blues hasn't been seen in a London theatre before, and gained a slightly mixed reception after productions in Minnesota and elsewhere.
It's a typically intense story of a messianic South American rebel leader who is captured and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Miller's sting in the tale concerns a TV company who want to film the execution, as he explained in interview we did with him a while back.
In any case Kevin Spacey has scored an eye-catching coup, and it'll be interesting to see how Resurrection Blues shapes up south of the Thames with this all-American duo in charge.
