Nick Ahad | The Guardian: Playwrights have the titan Michael Frayn to thank for the most apposite phrase to describe our perpetual condition. Frayn wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film Clockwise, and at the lowest moment of headteacher Brian Stimpson – played by an end-of-tether John Cleese – he articulates something that might well be pinned above every playwright’s desk. “It’s not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand,” Stimpson says, while lying on the ground dressed in monk’s robes.
1 comment:
I am a bit torn about this matter. I do believe passionate playwrights who write great plays that believe should be exposed, should be the plays that are put on stage. However, when it comes to modern art, many things are political. Art, theater, and film have become more ‘trendy’ and relevant than good craft. I hate when the theater is solely political and overly politically correct. I think it is boring and uninspiring. Art was supposed to be something new and to show a different perspective on the world. Portraying beauty, grotesqueness, or something in between. But now, people want to play it safe. Making theater and art a little sensitive, while it should be the farthest thing from this. If art goes in this direction much longer, people will completely lose sight of nuanced creativity. So maybe, there should be a lottery for plays, maybe a change would be good. Or maybe it will just make for worse theater.
Post a Comment