tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post840082206068392431..comments2023-09-20T14:34:21.102+02:00Comments on Postcards from the Gods: A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky – Lyric HammersmithAndrew Haydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-46136512169912394332010-05-27T22:18:32.785+02:002010-05-27T22:18:32.785+02:00David,
As you say, credit where credit's due:...David,<br /><br />As you say, credit where credit's due: many thanks for pointing that out, and I apologise for speaking out of turn!<br /><br />(It goes without saying, congratulations on 'A Thousand Stars...')<br /><br />E(E)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00589619039856941188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-20053244353420666792010-05-24T15:07:07.620+02:002010-05-24T15:07:07.620+02:00Hi Edwin (& Andrew)
Interesting comment (and b...Hi Edwin (& Andrew)<br />Interesting comment (and blog of course Andrew).<br />Just a small correction but credit where credit's due, the people that instigated the 2003 Exchange season were the directors Tim Stark and Charlotte Gwinner, and their idea was championed by Sarah Frankcom within the Exchange itself. Sarah directed the revival of Across Oka, Tim the revival of Rafts and Dreams and Charlotte oversaw the three readings. Charlotte directed the reading of the only unproduced stage play of Holman's in his long and illustrious career, A Moon Unusually Large, Simon Stephens directed a reading of The Overgrown Path and I directed a reading of German Skerries.<br />Thanks for such intelligent comments<br />DavidDavid Eldridgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-79409606022359291392010-05-18T20:48:36.180+02:002010-05-18T20:48:36.180+02:00Andrew,
I like the way you've approached this...Andrew,<br /><br />I like the way you've approached this; it’s reinvigorated my thoughts about the piece. I kept wondering as to how deliberate an approach the performance style might be, wanting the performances to ‘engage’ more with the latent emotion of the writing ⎯ while all the time being aware, on some level (minimal, admittedly), that there must be something else at work. <br /><br />It’s frustrating to think how hard-wired I’ve (/we’ve?) become, as spectators of largely realistic, ‘causal’ drama (when it comes to new writing at least) into always enquiring, ‘Where is this going?’ ‘Is this convincing?” when in this case, in retrospect, the kind of distant, even dispassionate approach they adopted has its own kind of beauty.<br /><br />Robert Holman is a fascinating case exactly because - I would tend to agree with you - he’s viewed predominantly as a ‘playwrights’ playwright’. And yet over a career spanning about 30 years he’s always managed to have work produced: he’s been resident dramatist at the RSC, Royal Court, NT - pretty much everywhere you can be, to my knowledge; a few years ago (2004, maybe?) the Manchester Royal Exchange even devoted a short season to his work - largely at Simon Stephens’s instigation, I think. Given this consistency, it’s perhaps surprising that as far as I know there isn’t a modern ‘Collected Plays’ available. <br /><br />One of the reasons why he’s been a bit off the radar in recent years (even though the Exchange produced a new play of his, ‘Jonah and Otto’ with Ian McDiarmid in 2008) might be because, generally-speaking, his plays tend to be real slow-burners. So far as I’ve read, they belong to a dramaturgical ‘school’ outside of what might be called the ‘plot-point’-obsessed culture that often has currency now. Which means he’s fallen out of fashion. As you mentioned, it’s very difficult to identify those moments drawn from a particular pen in ‘A Thousand Stars...’, but there is a kind of ‘ruminative’ quality which his work often has which permeates a lot of the scenes: testament as much to Eldridge and Stephens’s shared admiration of Holman perhps, as well as their own development. (I would quickly add to that that I am not identifying him as the major ‘architect’ of the piece by any means.)<br /><br />Admittedly, some of Holman’s work now feels a bit dated (German Skerries, Mud); but of the plays I’ve heard recommended most often, and read/seen, I would suggest the following: Outside the Whale; Rafts and Dreams; Making Noise Quietly; Across Oka. <br /><br />It’s interesting to note that all three writers have said (according to Lyn Gardner's piece last week) that their own work has been influenced, to some degree, in the light of this experience. Obviously, how far this will be in evidence in their respective future outings remains to be seen. But they might yet answer your call ⎯ which I would echo. <br /><br />(I went on a bit there, apologies.)(E)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00589619039856941188noreply@blogger.com