Friday, May 30, 2008

At the cliff's edge

There is something perfect about this photo. The light, the perspective, the sense of emptiness. Where did the driver go? What is the significance of the split in the white line? And for the first time since taking this photograph in April, I see myself in the mirror. What else is there full of symbolic menace? It is the start of an Antonioni movie [The Passenger?]. It is the image at the start of my next play, Tina! It is the end of my memoirs! It is ...well? What do you think?

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Finding the next Play

The next school play is one of those exciting and excrutiating tasks a drama teacher has to do. It can be a great freedom. No one tells you what to pick. No one insists on a musical. No worries. Well that is what has happened to me. There are 3 questions. How many kids want to be in it? What play has something for everyone and a new genre to challenge us? Is anyone going to be offended? The kids worry about the first. The teacher worries about the second. And the Principal always asks the third. For this coming year the favourite is a pastiche of Marlowe's FAUST. We found it on a Times web page of resources. Someone calling himself Mad Dog [ no it can't be a woman] is the author. That is all we know. Attempts to find Mad Dog have not been a success. Whoever he is, he writes well. It is a joy to read. So 'Tina!' by Mad Dog. It has something doesn't it? [painting = Vision of Faust by Falero]