Movies that last often are as potent in pricking the bubble of someone else’s sense of their own dramatic moment, as when Vivien Leigh as  Scarlett O’Hara (in the film of ‘Gone With the Wind’) says in despair: “Where shall I go? What shall I do?”and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler responds: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

June 1, 2026

We all remember the scene from the film Gone With the Wind, even if not the details. The shallow life of Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh, is revealed when she is in weeds of mourning with her home, Tara (the paradisal halls of Tara in Irish mythology are enwrapped herein), compromised by the loss … More Movies that last often are as potent in pricking the bubble of someone else’s sense of their own dramatic moment, as when Vivien Leigh as  Scarlett O’Hara (in the film of ‘Gone With the Wind’) says in despair: “Where shall I go? What shall I do?”and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler responds: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book.

May 31, 2026

How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book. When I was a child, I was obsessed with having to finish a book. It was a measure of the endurance, fortitude or passion (with varying degrees of drive and amounts of compulsion enforced from some internalised diktat or standard) to … More How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book.

Walking to the ‘The Playhouse’ at Horden from Warren St. to see Hamlet in the First Quarto

May 30, 2026

The walk was short but I didn’t know that when I parked up on Warren Street between Twelfth Street and Eleventh Street (pit villages and towns oft have numbered streets, lined on each sides by redbrick terraces, rather than names – perhaps to emphasise the fact that they housed such numbers of men, in the … More Walking to the ‘The Playhouse’ at Horden from Warren St. to see Hamlet in the First Quarto

There is no such thing as an unlimited budget that is not paradoxically limited by its duration (as it is in this question for 24 hours) but the whole point is that budgets that are swollen are essential to the magical thinking of self-interest that is supposed to be the driver to capitalist economies. The feeling of the magic bulge of growth in the National Theatre’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ seen yesterday night.

May 29, 2026

There is no such thing as an unlimited budget that is not paradoxically limited by its duration (as it is in this question for 24 hours) but the whole point is that budgets that are swollen are essential to the magical thinking of self-interest that is supposed to be the driver to capitalist economies. The … More There is no such thing as an unlimited budget that is not paradoxically limited by its duration (as it is in this question for 24 hours) but the whole point is that budgets that are swollen are essential to the magical thinking of self-interest that is supposed to be the driver to capitalist economies. The feeling of the magic bulge of growth in the National Theatre’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ seen yesterday night.

“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” [‘Proverbs’, chapter 26, verse 11]. It may not be a ‘proverb’ (the wise call it an ‘aphorism’) and it certainly does not translate into clear meaning or human application, but it is neither ‘completely wrong’ nor ‘completely right’: it just is human vomit up for grabs by any old dog.

May 28, 2026

Let’s clear up the right to name this well known verse of the Bible a proverb, first, though it appears more correct to call it an aphorism. Traditionally we make contradistinction between the forms of ‘saying’ known as aphorism and proverb respectively by thinking of proverbs as saying something wise or true (it is not … More “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” [‘Proverbs’, chapter 26, verse 11]. It may not be a ‘proverb’ (the wise call it an ‘aphorism’) and it certainly does not translate into clear meaning or human application, but it is neither ‘completely wrong’ nor ‘completely right’: it just is human vomit up for grabs by any old dog.

Ilan Pappé (2024) ‘Ten Myths About Israel’, London, Verso Press.

May 27, 2026

Some books just must be read and Ilan Pappé (2024 – with new preface on Gaza as well as the original of 2017 – Ten Myths About Israel, London, Verso Press is one of them. The edition of 2024 gives a necessary set of words about Gaza that now requires updating again, for as Pappé … More Ilan Pappé (2024) ‘Ten Myths About Israel’, London, Verso Press.

‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’.

May 26, 2026

‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’. There … More ‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’.

It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’, wherein moments have duration and measure in so many domains including measures of time and the quality, rather than quantity, of our attention to a phenomenon: the time scales, for instance, of narrative, history and self-awareness wherein ‘reality’ is at a premium.

May 25, 2026

In the loosest of uses of the word ‘moment’, I want to identify a ‘moment’ as that period of time over which I realised that reality is constantly reshaped by the means of its description. It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel … More It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’, wherein moments have duration and measure in so many domains including measures of time and the quality, rather than quantity, of our attention to a phenomenon: the time scales, for instance, of narrative, history and self-awareness wherein ‘reality’ is at a premium.

Dining with Socrates

May 23, 2026

Inviting Socrates to dine at homewith us is, as always, your idea.You always leave out Xenophon, evenPlato is not asked to come dine with us.You know Soc. likes his words to be writtenin their limpid but authoritativestyle, and not storied over by thin talkfrom our poor crowd. Oh well! He’ll sit againAt our table’s head … More Dining with Socrates

The phrase might be ‘a Prince of the Theatre’ used as if royalty alone gave value to things. Yet Ian McKellen is such a Prince because he played Prince Hamlet so many times – the last time in his recent older age. This blog is Part 2 of “The good and the bad in preparing to watch The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet performed by Ensemble 84 at their new theatre in Horden, …

May 22, 2026

The phrase might be ‘a Prince of the Theatre’ used as if royalty alone gave value to things. Yet Ian McKellen is such a Prince because he played Prince Hamlet so many times – the last time in his recent older age. This blog is Part 2 of “The good and the bad in preparing … More The phrase might be ‘a Prince of the Theatre’ used as if royalty alone gave value to things. Yet Ian McKellen is such a Prince because he played Prince Hamlet so many times – the last time in his recent older age. This blog is Part 2 of “The good and the bad in preparing to watch The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet performed by Ensemble 84 at their new theatre in Horden, …

The good and the bad in preparing to watch ‘The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet’ performed by Ensemble 84 at their new theatre in Horden, from the text of the First Quarto publication, conventionally called by editors a ‘bad quarto’? Part 1 – dealing with ‘fears and self-doubts.

May 21, 2026

The good and the bad in preparing to watch The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet performed by Ensemble 84 at their new theatre in Horden, from the text of the First Quarto publication, conventionally called by editors a ‘bad quarto’? Part 1 – dealing with ‘fears and self-doubts. I will be talking about my expectations of … More The good and the bad in preparing to watch ‘The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet’ performed by Ensemble 84 at their new theatre in Horden, from the text of the First Quarto publication, conventionally called by editors a ‘bad quarto’? Part 1 – dealing with ‘fears and self-doubts.

At a time when the arts is in crisis, Northern theatre companies need to get their act and actors together. The terrible waste of an evening at Elysium’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’.

May 20, 2026

I blogged in preparation and noted that I had blogged on Elysium Theatre before, forgetting I saw their wondrous A Midsummer Night’s Dream (though, mainly because too elated, I didn’t blog on it – I remember thinking that Bottom was a real force in the play) thus: I have seen Elysium Theatre before and blogged … More At a time when the arts is in crisis, Northern theatre companies need to get their act and actors together. The terrible waste of an evening at Elysium’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’.