Broadsides – A collection of bits and pieces
"Unprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a blog”
If you were to seriously sit down and attempt to adapt Joyce’s Ulysses for the stage then you possibly ought not to do so without being supervised by a consultant psychiatrist. Alternatively you could prepare for such an epic task by ensuring a good supply of whiskey, perhaps a bottle per chapter, a continuous intravenous... Continue Reading →
The greatest power struggle ever staged. Shakespeare. Assassination, murder, the ravishing of virgins, betrayal by mother, slicing off of hands and the tearing out of lounges, feasting a father on the flesh of his sons, revenge, honour corruption and barbecuing your enemies face. What authoritarian monsters what power hungry goths are called before us. Why... Continue Reading →
A comedy about the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard? Got some balls those Danish! First they invade us with their Vikings, then their detective/crime novels and now their comedians. Claus Damgaard is the Danish funnyman, appearing at C aquilla, up by the castle, in a deadly serious, deadly funny interpretation of Kierkegaard’s existentialist approach to love, relationships... Continue Reading →
Jack Ruby was a streetwise confident tough guy, knew his way, in the world of nightclubs and burlesque. He was a patriot, loved America, loved the buzz of it, the embrace of it. He was a charmer, could have been, should have been a politician, he would engage you with his smile, you would find... Continue Reading →
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh has re-opened in its dramatic, neo gothic palace on Queen Street. Ruskin would be delighted. It is a rather rambling interior and quite difficult to navigate. I wondered about with nothing really grabbing my interest, until I stumbled upon, entirely by good fortune, the exhibition of war paintings by Sir... Continue Reading →
British comedy has never before, been this desperate: "Your boyfriend asked you to piss on him? Ha ha ha ha guffaw guffaw Did you like it? Ha Ha Ha Ha guffaw Ha Ha: He shows a slide of a drawing of a man masturbating using the dead arm and hand of a man in a coffin,... Continue Reading →
This show doesn’t really work. It hasn’t joined the dots together fully, which is a great pity, for the writing is absolutely first class. A real poet of the interweb. If he has a book of poems then I’d buy it and recommend it to anyone I know. I hope he sticks to it. He... Continue Reading →
The Unitarian church of St. Marks, hard by the sheer cliffs of Edinburgh Castle, has an interior, as you would expect of the Unitarians, entirely unadorned, with any religious image. An odd place to listen to Jazz. There, where the altar should be, stands a great glossy black note of a grand piano. The musician... Continue Reading →
I have always had a considerable soft spot for Ruskin. My college days, brief as they were, were spent in Ruskin College Oxford, named for him because of his serious commitment to the teaching of the working classes as outlined in his monthly “letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Brittan” The college was... Continue Reading →
Written by a Welshman, from the valleys, about a Welsh soldier, also from the valleys, who died from gunshots from her own weapon while on guard duty at the railway gate of Deepcut garrison, perhaps more commonly known to the soldiers who served there, as Blackdown. As a piece of theater it is at once,... Continue Reading →
Broadsides - A collection of bits and pieces 