Ian Mcdiarmid

Almost from the day they applied for the job 11 years ago, Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid--a pair of actors with no experience running the show--turned London's Almeida Theatre into one of the hippest companies in the world. McDiarmid explains how he and his old friend got started as co-artistic directors. First they cooked up their own dream season: two new plays, two classics.

Almost from the day they applied for the job 11 years ago, Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid--a pair of actors with no experience running the show--turned London's Almeida Theatre into one of the hippest companies in the world. McDiarmid explains how he and his old friend got started as co-artistic directors. First they cooked up their own dream season: two new plays, two classics.

Ralph Fiennes is coming to Broadway for the first time since his 1995 Tony Award-winning performance in "Hamlet." Fiennes, who has appeared in movies such as "The Constant Gardener" and "The English Patient," will star in a revival of Brian Friel's "Faith Healer," opening May 4 at the Booth Theatre after a run in Ireland at Gate Theatre in Dublin.

Aficionados of classic literature and fans of classic TV can sit side by side over the next two nights as the Bravo channel unspools a four-hour miniseries based on the Fyodor Dostoevsky novel "Crime and Punishment." The rich, atmospheric production of the Russian drama, filmed on location in St. Petersburg, opens tonight at 8, with the closing chapter showing Wednesday, also at 8.

Play "The History Boys" * Musical "Jersey Boys" * Book of a musical Bob Martin and Don McKellar "The Drowsy Chaperone" * Original score Music and lyrics: Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison "The Drowsy Chaperone" * Revival of a play "Awake and Sing!"

This year's Tony Awards had no host, no comedian; I forgot to check if there was even red carpet coverage beforehand. Was there? Was Ryan Seacrest out there, terrorizing some Royal Shakespearean with his E! voodoo mumbo jumbo? I'm not even sure why the Tonys are on TV anymore, really, not when we have grand dames like the MTV Movie Awards. The Tonys aren't a ratings-getter for the obvious reason (that ain't Jessica Alba in "Sweeney Todd").

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (citywide) is a pleasant enough way to tour the South of France in December. Blithe, reasonably witty, with as many story twists as a Riviera roadway, its greatest assets are its glorious look (courtesy of Michael Ballhaus' exceptional camera work) and Michael Caine, his hair full of Dippety-Doo, his heart full of larceny.

Shane Felux has a name fit for a rebel leader. Felux is a desktop auteur, the producer of the 47-minute "Star Wars" fan film "Revelations." He and his wife spent the last three years and $20,000 building, frame by computer-generated frame, their downloadable epic in their basement in northern Virginia.

Last month, a British national newspaper carried a provocative article about the dissent and deep-seated policy differences tearing apart the Royal Shakespeare Company. The headline on the article, from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," read: "Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!" The phrase seemed to have the ring of prophecy last week as Adrian Noble, RSC's artistic director for the last 12 years, announced his resignation, thus sending the company into turmoil.

Without Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it. Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years.

A fake trailer for "Star Wars: Episode II" has been exciting--and confusing--a mass of "Star Wars" fans since its debut on the Internet last week. More than 200,000 people have downloaded the two-minute short on fan site the Force.Net (http://www.theforce.net), many wondering if it's the real thing. Accompanied by vivid sound effects, the "Episode I" theme music and Lucasfilm logos, the trailer opens gracefully with a sky full of stars, then moves to a hazy desert scene with two suns.