Sunday, 25 February 2018

Who Fancies a Culture War: Mad Cyril arrives (part five)

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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