Wink, Techtonics, Sneaky Musings from the past

I have a fundamental belief that every time anyone goes to the theatre, the world becomes a marginally better place. That is because I believe that being part of an audience, and having a shared experience, and being presented with a version of reality, is an intrinsic good. This also applies to art galleries, film showings, music gigs, anything where the artist dictates the location and  time. Community performance is probably even better, but I am still grappling with that.

Combined with this blog's need to be fed (I can't keep the big readership without constant up-dating. That is the way of the web), I am willing to write about as much performance as press agents can provide. Within that, there are plays I can get very enthusiastic about, and others I am less inclined to push.

This is a matter of personal taste. I don't want to become a shrill side-show barker, supporting all of Scotland's theatre indiscriminately. Equally, I don't want to just bang on about experimental physical theatre and ignore anything more mainstream. Just because I am pretentious doesn't mean that there is a true hierarchy of art.

I am  hoping that blogs like this one put my choices in context, and make it clearer why I favour certain artistic endeavours. I am trying to find a way to allow the reader to react to my opinion, and be aware of how I make them.

One trick I am trying is to insult myself. If a flame war begins, I have said far worse about myself.

My faith that the phrase "I don't know" is the best answer for any question more complicated than "what sort of coffee would you like?" has been shaken. After the passionate conviction of the crowds calling for a boycott of Batsheva at The Edinburgh Festival, and reading the spiritual autobiography of one of them out of Penn and Teller, which suggested that "I don't know" was the atheist's catchphrase (actually, I think he meant agnosticism, a far more tentative theology: the laddish antics that he constantly recalls, doubtless in an attempt to make atheism look cool, make me suspect that his brilliance in stage magic is matched by his social idiocy).

I have lazily maintained a bunch of beliefs that I hoped cut down too much metaphysical speculation: that art is intrinsically political by virtue of representing an opinion; that dialogue is the ultimate good; the establishment and all ideologies are inherently suspect and self-interested; criticism is an art form in its own right; atheists and fundamentalist Christians have the same vision of God, only one side rejects it; inclusion is more important than being right. Oh, and every action has both good and bad consequences.

I might style myself an anarchist (I refuse to follow a party-line unless I agree with it, I distrust Marxism and neo-capitalism with the same apathetic sneer), but I have realised that this is just thoughtless liberalism.

Apart from my unwillingness to share a catchphrase with an excellent TV magician, due to his complete lack of intellectual rigour, I have decided that I want a set of beliefs that are neither mind forged manacles nor idle, throwaway evasions. I quite like bits of Marxism, Existentialism, Christianity, Buddhism, Conservatism and Queer Theory in a thoroughly post-modern manner.

Not as much as I like going to see Hivver play a drone set, which is probably why I have fallen down.

The protests outside Batsheva really intrigued me. I want to be able to have an opinion on events like this that is coherent. To be honest, none of the critical responses I read were satisfactory. The Guardian let me down here. While I appreciated the liberal response that tried to see both sides, the comparison of the Israeli Government with Pussy Riot betrayed the paper's fascination with the latest drama.

I do have an opinion on the boycott, but I am not ready to put it out into the world until I know whether I can support it. This isn't about right and wrong - I am way past believing that there is an absolute answer. It's about having beliefs that encourage me to take responsibility for my actions, and grounding them not in the opinions of others, but through  my personality and intelligence.

Of course, that scuppers the project from the start. Perhaps my best bet is to have a few chats with people who might know what they are talking about.