Today's trip to Sheffield

Good evening folks.
Yesterday I reached the dizzy heights of 70,000 words. It felt rather like scaling the great heights of Kilimanjaro or placing that ceremonial flag on the Moon. All very exciting. I'll get back to it tomorrow afternoon.

Today we had our school trip out to Sheffield to see David Hare's Plenty at the Crucible. What a great theatre! It is in the 'cultural industries quarter' (it's not just 'cultural' but 'industrially cultural'!) and was totally full of jolly theatre-watchers. So, on to the play itself. I must admit I feel it is a little wordy and long-winded. There are some moments of brilliant, witty writing, however. During our post-show chat we considered the tension between personal and public politics. For me, the show is a little too character-centred to really be effective as either a State of the Nation play or as a piece of straight-forward political theatre. That is not to say that it wasn't an enjoyable afternoon's viewing but I remain a little confused about genre and intention. It doesn't seem to give any remedy for the situation and the end is extremely depressing.

The class politics were also a little difficult and I was constantly reminded of Joan Littlewood's accusation that you could only find folks with working-class accents playing servants or comics. Whereas, in this sort of play, the working-class characters generally provide some sort of hope against the backdrop of the demise of the ruling classes, Hare doesn't seem to be making any such claim here. Is a piece politically-engaged in any useful sense if it doesn't offer any alternative? Or is this real politically-engaged theatre, drama that negates obvious, utopian conclusions in favour of a more complex, allegorical approach? I have no answers, only questions...

There was some brilliant acting, including from ex-Eastender Jack Ryder. And the whole play started with a rather striking moment of male nudity that was a little surprising!

Anyways, tomorrow it is more 1-1 meetings with students and then on to research. The next few days are relatively quiet and so it's on with the Book and the second book proposal. I also need to start thinking about cutting The Adding Machine down to an hour.

More tea needed and a good snooze.
CSW