iblog

Lottie: I wonder if Royal Mail has caught up yet with the irony of suspending postman Roger Annies over his advice on how to stop receiving unsolicited junk mail through our doors. What began as a quiet leafleting campaign among the residents of Barry, South Wales has now become national news. Because of this exposure now everyone is being made aware of the easy steps one has to take to banish junk mail and it’s beautifully apt that this kind of blanket coverage is exactly how advertisers target their customers. To stop receiving junk mail yourself follow this link to the BBC news website…

Lottie: If you’re the kind of person who is interested in current affairs but only has time to skim the news, or if you simply possess the attention span of a gnat (I must apologise to all gnats, I’m only going on hearsay), then it’s worth checking out Time magazine’s quotes of the day. There’s a huge range of snappy quotes to be had from political figures, celebrities and other people in the public eye, which provides a concise insight into lots of varied issues. My favourite quote today is from Vanity Fair journalist Michael Lutin on the astrological significance of the newly founded dwarf planets in our solar system: “UB313 is never going to tell you whether Wednesday is good for romance.” It does raise the question, will these new planets be incorporated into the ancient zodiac and will there be some kind of competition to see what animal or object should represent them? It’s perhaps a little like the Conservative party’s recent struggle to find a new logo, although obviously, once you get there it’s so worthwhile…

Lottie: The Sunday Times went with the headline today that 1 in 5 (that’s 10 million) British working adults would consider emigrating to another country in order to escape the high levels of taxation in this country. this revealing survey was conducted independently by ICM, the polling company, but my question is, how was the poll actually presented to those questioned? If someone asked me if i’d prefer to live somewhere with lower taxes i’d probably say yes as long as there were decent public services. There is also a difference between choosing emigration and giving it “serious thought” as the survey puts it. Although this poll no doubt provides a revealing account of public feeling, there must be a line drawn between speculation and action and there certainly will be other factors than tax at play in people’s decision to emigrate. Only 6% of people polled actually do plan to emigrate and i’d be interested to know where exactly these people want to go and why. the most popular destinations for British emigrants are the USA, Germany and Australia, i wonder if it is all just about the money…

Lottie: If you’re flying away on holiday any time soon, you’re probably feeling a little anxious about airport security, delays, losing luggage and so forth. Last week The Times printed an informative article on packing a suitcase to maximise space for storing extra valuables. With this in mind, check out this video of how to fold a T-shirt, which demonstrates an extra-speedy and rather impressive new way to fold your shirts. Learning this technique should save you plenty of regular packing time, which you can then spend figuring out how you’re going to cram your laptop in with your flip-flops and leaky sun cream.

Donnacha: One of the more fascinating plays i’ve seen at this year’s Edinburgh Festival has been a double bill of Brechtian Opera. For two nights only the Opera National de Lyon performed two of Brecht’s shorter works, “The Lindbergh Flight” and “The Seven Deadly Sins.”

The production was sumptuous with exquisite singing and vivacious, original dance numbers from the eponymous Sins.

At the end of the night i was left with a feeling i had seen something particularly unusual but i couldn’t quite work out what. The it struck me- the plays were political, overtly political. It came as a shock to me but you don’t get that much these days. “The Lindbergh Flight” explored the nature of a hero in industrial society and the mastery of nature by man’s mechanical inventions. “Seven Deadly Sins” laid bare the corrupting influence of rampant capitalism and greed.

I suspect that, if Brecht was writing today he would find it difficult to get staged. We are told political theatre is resurgent but i’m convinced critics would dismiss his works as pure propaganda and consign them to the dustbin of history. On the Royal Mile here there are no shortage of costumed American marines, Afghan fighters or bandaged Iraqis but they are all in “docuplays”.

There is a lack of original, fictional, political drama in our theatre culture today. Where it is tolerated it has had to adopt the look, feel and some of the rigours of documentary. The Tricycle theatre’s Tribunal Plays (Nuremberg Trials, Colour of Justice, Bloody Sunday etc.) refuse to create any original dialogue while plays like David Hare’s recent “The Permanent Way” or “Stuff Happens” rely on original documents or interviews for their legitimacy.

As it is Brecht is safe because luscious revivals are “heritage” not “agitprop.”

It wasn’t long ago theatres were full of the intensley political, epic dramas of Brenton, Hare and Bond. Even the early 90s were full of “In Yer Face” political theatre from Sarah Kane or Mark Ravenhill.

Plays based on real life and documented history are an important, informative and entertaining part of our theatrical culture but we shouldn’t underestimate the political power of fiction.

Lottie: The people of Mumbai have some peculiar fortunes. Last year thousands of citizens flocked onto a local beach after hearing that diamonds were washing up there. The diamonds, however, turned out to be fragments of glass. This year, the sea water around Mumbai has mysteriously turned sweet, which one man hailed as a ‘blessing from Baba’, but officials believe the ‘miracle’ is probably down to fresh water or increased pollution. I feel sad. I would really like Mumbai to get the special miracle it deserves. So, if anyone can get hold of philospher’s stone or a troop of flying monkeys, you know where to send them…

Donnacha: In the last week people have been poking through poorly frequented bookshelves and dusting off their old Penguins as Literary Classics have been thrust back in the spotlight.

It began when schools Minister Alan Johnson announced that there would be no “dumbing down” of school English curricula. The outcome of an edcation department review has guaranteed the likes of Austen and Shakespeare a place in the nation’s classrooms.

The announcement was not met with unanimous enthusiasm. Notably Steven Moss, writing in Tuesday’s Guardian, wondered at the wisdom of “instructing” teenagers to read the likes of Henry James’ “The Ambassadors.” He argued that Dickens or Trollope should be left to one’s mid-50s and that children would be better analysing chick lit or Harry Potter.

Isn’t this rather missing the point of a “classic” work of literature? Of course teenagers won’t experience the full, multi-layered impact of Hamlet, or John Donne or Toni Morrison on first reading. Then again neither will a 25 year old, or a 35 year old or a 65 year old. Classics are classics because they bear re-reading over a lifetime. We get something from them in youth and, when we are older, we get something new from them- not least because of the experiences we bring to them.

Surely we shouldn’t deny students the opportunity to begin a relationship with great literature which will stand with them for their whole lives?

Lottie: A vast experiment was recently undertaken by scientists at the University of Hertfordshire to find the world’s funniest joke, as voted for by people who logged on to their website www.laughlab.co.uk. Before you read any further let me stress once again that this is meant to be the WORLD’S FUNNIEST JOKE…

“A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?”

I can’t say this had any impact on me of the smiley variety, perhaps my pulse quickened as I read it, we will never know. Luckily Dr Richard Wiseman is on hand to tell us why ‘we’ find this joke so amusing. “We feel superior to the stupid hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own mortality.”

So there we have it. If anyone has a better joke that also makes us consider the nature of humanity, send it in to this website and I will analyse it and also tell your fortune.

Lottie: There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times Style Magazine (13th august) about the advancement of semi permanent cosmetics, titled ‘Waking up perfect’. These longer lasting products, which include mascara and a terrifying sounding lip stain called ‘pink injection’ (see. www.beauty-bandits.com) have been billed as the dawn of stress free mornings for us beautiful things who, according to the New Woman survey, spend an average of 52 minutes per day putting on our makeup and then ‘refreshing’ as the day goes on, (81% of women in the UK wear makeup every day). However, the same article at cosmeticsdesign.com stresses that 71% of women actually find the whole making up process ‘mentally therapeutic and stress relieving’. This creates a dilemma; do I maintain my daily scraping and grouting routine for the good of my mental health, or do I give in to progress in an attempt to edge ever closer to the Stepford morning girl I always dreamed of being?

Donnacha: It’s been an absolutely hectic two days. In a complete change from lounging in sleepy Belfast i’ve parachuted into the middle of the largest theatre festival in the world, armed only with a Press Pass, a badly photocopied script and a strange desire to be a light/sound operator.

24 hours to read the script, find all the props, set up the theatre and get through the first performance- a doddle, surely?

Well, the first performance finished less than an hour ago and it certainly wasn’t a doddle but it did go well. The company performed “Paper Flowers” by Egon Wolff, a Chilean playwright, flawlessly. The acting was intense, the props existed, we had a real living, breathing audience. Add to that the fact that i didn’t cast the stage into darkness once and i think we can be pretty proud of ourselves. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking but, right now, i think i could do this another fifteen times before the end of the month.

It’s the Edinburgh way.