A dialogue on values. Elon Musk says, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy”. Hannah Arendt who lived in Hitler’s Germany and covered the Israel trial of Adolf Eichmann, a German war criminal wrote, “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism. Read More →
I have always read the world news. Guess it’s the DNA of being a journalist and I was that for many years. But theatre has been a huge love too. I see world events recurring on stage again and again.. Today I saw it. Some years ago ago I directed the play Antigone, the Greek legend about how a ruler stops the burial of a dead Prince after a war. His mourning sister. Antigone, defies Creon, the ruler and buries her brother. She dies too. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I revamped the legend to a modern setting and made Vladimir Putin, the ruler. Today theRead More →
I have been watching “Good Night and Good Luck” with George Clooney on Broadway. Exciting Relevant. And… am I the only person thinking that President Trump was mentored by the philosophy of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin.Read More →
You’ll find snippets in this section of my website about William Shakespeare . I’ve been interested in the playwright and bis plays since childhood. As a small child I lived in Scotland between Aberdeen and Inverness and not far from Forres. This is Macbeth country. I was a child, around seven years of age when I arrived in the north of Scotland.. After school was over, we would fight each other in fatal battles with branches from trees and bellow at our opponents “Lay on Macduff, and dammed be him who first cries, Hold. Enough ” We shouted “How far to Forres?” without knowing why! Read More →
Interesting. Within hours of my last post, I find that Alexa gives more accurate information about Trump. I rephrased my questions in different ways. Got different answers. Some accurate, some less so…some which maybe devious…with Alexa saying I don’t have an answer to that question, but you can look at …..??????? Alexa – if you make mistakes, perhaps you are on the way to becoming human? Read More →
Ask Alexa if Donald Trump is a convicted felon? She is not forthcoming with good and accurate information. According to what I can find out this morning, Alexa is frequently being updated. There must be a story here for an original writer, not AI though…… HOW TO SCARE A COMPUTERRead More →
Mark Rylance, the first artistic director Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, between 1995 and 2005. suggests theatre rap productions of Shakespeare plays. He says Shakespeare’s precise words should be less revered, and compares the Bard’s use of language to the rappers of today. Rylance says Shakespeare should not be worshipped on an intellectual level, saying too many performers speak his lines too slowly. Instead, he said, actors should learn from a generation of young people growing up on rap music, to reconnect with the quick-speaking emotion Shakespeare originally intended. “If I have a general criticism, which is true of my Shakespeare acting and most ShakespeareRead More →
The Government has passed the first reading of David Seymour’s Regulatory Standards Bill through Parliament. Doing it in the shadow of the Budget is cynical move for Seymour and his claims is about “transparent” lawmaking. The Government timed it to avoid public scrutiny. ACT tried three times before before to pass a bill of this genre . It has already drawn widespread public opposition. Over 20,000 people submitted on the bill’s first consultation -under one percent supported it. ACT with less than 10% of the electoral vote acts like Trump. Arrogant and narcissistic . He will become Deputy PM, soon.Read More →
Our Minister of Education has a narrow view of drama and what she wants young people to appreciate. A culture needs diversity and that means colleges and their teachers must have flexibility to select and teach drama without being locked into any one dramatist or poet or writer. The word is diversity. A good English teacher will read widely and know many dramatists. If he/she teaches about what they love in drama, there is a fair chance some of the emotion and learning will rub off to their students. As a lover of the Bard and in possession of at least five DVD versions ofRead More →
Ever since COVID hit NZ and the world I have been writing film scripts. It’s odd how one big unforeseen experience in life will shape the mind. My most recent script is Africa Avenger. Details are on this website, so I won’t repeat them. If you wish, the script is there to read. I worked in Africa in several countries in Development Aid for a NGO. So my script used some of my experience and much non-experience. The latter is called imagination. I love Africa. The people I worked with were family people. All their money supported their family and others members of the family…Read More →