It’s difficult to explain to those who have never lived in a place where they are cultural or religious minorities the dilemma of choosing to work on an important holiday. Where I live, for many people, holidays are something you get off work as a matter of course: everybody gets…
In the framing device of Bertolt Brecht’s play The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948), two farming communes argue over the ownership of a piece of land. One wants it to grow fruit trees; before the political disruption previous to the start of the play, the other commune raised goats there, and…
What do boy wizard Harry Potter and Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum have in common? Apart from messy black hair? Answer: another kid against whom competition feels personal. Someone competing at the same level but for the other side. Someone whose actions hike up the in-story tension. In short… a rival.
Or, rather, on not revising for a deadline. See, it’s easy to decide on an arbitrary deadline, the date by which my story or chapter should be done. I’m really good at that. The hard — nay, impossible — part is actually meeting it. I don’t think this is because I’m bad at revising.…
If you go to the theatre or catch an occasional Shakespeare-in-the-park, you have probably seen A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If you are a performer, you’ve almost certainly been in at least one production of the play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has everything contemporary theatre companies can hope for: name recognition, fun parts…