Deconstruction is too gentle a word for what the 32-year-old Wooster Group does to classic plays. Its Hamlet, which transfers to the Public Theater next week, features reenactments of a taped 1964 Richard Burton performance, which is also broadcast on monitors. But the result is relatively coherent—if not exactly faithful. Where does it rank among other Wooster-exploded old chestnuts?

Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is everywhere. He talked with Boris Kachka about typecasting, politics, and getting mugged.

Booted from edgy gallery.

The former German-lit major has just published a new translation of Spring Awakening.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was worth the long, long wait.

Edmund White imagines Stephen Crane dreaming about a rent boy.

Shalom Auslander’s beef with the Lord.

It’s Bill vs. Greenspan vs. Valerie Plame Wilson. Somewhere at the intersection of policy porn and score-settling memoir lies the big-name political tract, and fall is often the season for them. Which will make the biggest media splash possible?

For bringing us Young Frankenstein (not to mention High Anxiety, etc.), Mel Brooks just wants a little love. Is he so wrong?

On telling off F. Murray Abraham and her awkwardness with Jeff Daniels.