Staging Stop Making Sense

It’s been 6 months since I moved to New York City and seeing shows here has made me want to make theatre again. However, in the absence of a suitable condemned storefront to perform in, and with most of my time going to my day job, I’ll have to settle for making videos about theatre, and in this format- writing about it. 

Most of the newsletter entries will be a bit longer and have their own subject, but this one is just some context on my most recent video essay about Stop Making Sense and the downtown theatre scene in New York.

When I first saw Stop Making Sense in theaters in the fall of 2023, in the first few minutes a feeling came over me- this is theatre. Not only that, but it felt like the kind of plays I liked from the 70s and 80s, like Robert Wilson or the Wooster Group. But this was a movie… of a concert… so why was I getting the same feeling? Well, to David Byrne, the Talking Heads lead singer who put together the staging concept, it was theatre.

Before seeing the film, I knew that Byrne was at least aware of the downtown theatre scene in New York from his collaboration on the Minneapolis section of Civil Wars, The Knee Plays. What I did not know was that he wasn’t just aware of the scene, he was right at the center of it, as you’ll see if you watch the video below.

I found that the relationship between this kind of theatre and the staging concept for the concert was far closer than I imagined, and that the Speaking in Tongues tour would mark a major shift for David Byrne, as Talking Heads began to unravel, and he began working more actively in other forms, chief among them, theatre.

What I saw this week

• Showgirl at Skirball

• Café Müller (Online) by Pina Bausch / Tanztheater Wuppertal

Thanks for reading / watching! If you have show recommendations or topics for future videos, feel free to reply.