HEY VILE!
WHEN YOU STARTED OFF THIS EPIC – AND I DON’T MEAN IN THE HOMERIC
OR BRECHTIAN WAY – RANT ABOUT MELODRAMA, YOU PROMISED A CULTURE WAR. SO FAR, WE’VE
HAD A VAGUE COMPLAINT ABOUT HOW MELODRAMA HAS BEEN CARICATURED AS THEATRE FOR
THE IGNORANT AND A SUGGESTION THAT THE CENTRALITY OF NATURALISM TO TWENTIETH
CENTURY THEATRE IS AN EXPRESSION OF THE MIDDLE-CLASSES STEALING PERFORMANCE
FROM POPULAR AUDIENCES.
THROW IN YOUR USUAL REMINDERS THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, AND SOME OF THOSE BLOODY COMIC BOOK PASTICHES YOU LOVE,
AND IT ADDS UP TO NOTHING: MORE PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL RAMBLING PRETENDING TO BE A
CONFRONTATION WITH CONTEMPORARY VALUES.
CAN YOU HURRY THINGS ALONG A BIT? I’M
BORED ALREADY.
YOURS CRITICALLY,
Mad Cyril
GREAT TO HEAR FROM YOU, CYRIL. AS ALWAYS, YOU’VE
GOT A POINT. BUT BEAR WITH ME.
MY MAIN THESIS IS EXACTLY THAT: THE
MIDDLE-CLASSES HAVE STOLEN THEATRE AWAY, AND WE’RE LEFT WITH PERFORMANCES THAT
PROTECT THE CULTURAL VALUES, ECONOMIC INTERESTS AND TASTES OF A LIBERAL ELITE…
NOW, I DON’T MEAN LIBERAL IS A NECESSARILY BAD THING (I’M NOT A NORTH AMERICAN
CONSERVATIVE), BUT I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THEATRE, AND THEATRE
CRITICISM.
MAYBE QUALITY IS NOT THE RIGHT WORD… MAYBE I MEAN
THE AESTHETICS…
THIS SHIFT HAPPENED WHEN NATURALISM WAS HELD UP
AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MELODRAMA, AND HAS KEPT GOING THROUGHOUT THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY. TRUST ME, I’LL BE HAVING A CRACK AT SOME SACRED COWS ALONG THE WAY.
WHILE I HAVE THE CHANCE, I’D LIKE TO SAY THAT
THIS WON’T BE SOME KIND OF NEO-CONSERVATIVE CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH. I
DON’T LIKE THOSE XENOPHOBIC AND MISOGYNISTIC ELEMENTS OF MELODRAMA ANY MORE
THAN THE NEXT AUDIENCE MEMBER (EXCEPT THAT TIME I SAT NEXT TO JIM DAVIDSON AT
THE PAVILION. THEN, I LIKED MISOGYNY AND XENOPHOBIA A LOT LESS).
I’M PROBABLY
ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE LIBERAL WHEN IT COMES TO MATTERS OF DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION… ALTHOUGH I AM NOW TEMPTED TO DEFINE THESE TERMS AND POINT OUT THE
PROBLEMS OF THE LANGUAGE USED AND THE HIDDEN RACIST ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND IDEAS
LIKE ‘MINORITY’.
STICK WITH ME. I’LL BE TESTING EVERYONE’S
PATIENCE SOON ENOUGH.
CRITICAL BEYOND BELIEF,
Gareth
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