Superfluities Redux
On culture and theatre, by George Hunka
A new journal for theatre minima and organum posts exclusively can now be found here.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
UPDATE, 19 January: And from another corner comes Naomi Wallace.
At the Guardian today I respond to Neil LaBute's recent excoriation of American playwrights:
So I'm a pussy, am I?
Well, not me personally. But I'm a writer, and as Neil LaBute had it in his Guardian feature yesterday: "Most writers are pussies." Given that the target of his attack is the modern-day American playwright, he suggests that maybe we're bigger pussies than most. Maybe it's because we're working in "a resilient little shit of an art form", still wanting to believe that 9/11 was a day "filled with heroism and personal sacrifice". (Neil's response? "Bullshit.") At least British playwrights like Caryl Churchill and David Hare still "give a shit", Neil says. In closing, he encourages audience members to forego the easy pleasures of the musical (their producers, "those bastards", are rich enough, he concludes).
Strong language. And maybe all the stronger for the weakness of his arguments.
The full post is here.
(By the way, a correspondent points out that, in re my first post on the matter, a founding member of The Fire Department is ... wait for it ... Neil LaBute.)
Posted at 1.16 pm in /Miscellaneous
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