tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post2819439437255807024..comments2024-02-18T19:36:43.844+11:00Comments on theatre notes: Experiment and thornsAlison Croggonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-69880767836895554312008-07-26T14:18:00.000+10:002008-07-26T14:18:00.000+10:00Eek, thanks Tim. That is a weird Freudian slip (wh...Eek, thanks Tim. That is a weird Freudian slip (who's Tom?), but now amended.<BR/><BR/>Cultural literacy is a question with poetry too - much modernist poetry references a classical education, for example, which once could be assumed but now is arcane knowledge. And with theatre, come to think of it...but I don't feel pessimistic either.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-79187017080115184542008-07-26T12:00:00.000+10:002008-07-26T12:00:00.000+10:00What is David Byrne on about though? He seems to c...What is David Byrne on about though? He seems to <A HREF="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/07/25/the-art-of-garbled-polemic/#comment-297095" REL="nofollow">confuse atonal music with 12 tone music.</A>TimThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10333303180015967125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-52775057522986822282008-07-26T11:36:00.000+10:002008-07-26T11:36:00.000+10:00Pedantic moment: it's Joe Queenan, not Tom. (Sorry...Pedantic moment: it's Joe Queenan, not Tom. (Sorry)<BR/><BR/>Less pedantic moment: I found myself in a great deal of sympathy with Queenan said in his piece. It's certainly true that, due to a number of causes, people at large don't really speak, think, or understand the classical music language anymore. This leads to severe difficulties with the reception and understanding of modern and TimThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10333303180015967125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-81755581592061659242008-07-26T07:31:00.000+10:002008-07-26T07:31:00.000+10:00Hi Geoffrey - I think it is, which is partly why t...Hi Geoffrey - I think it is, which is partly why the term "experimental" is fairly useless. But We Know What We Mean. There are degrees of adventure.<BR/><BR/>And George, I agree, the assumption that artists don't want to communicate is a weird one. Perhaps understandable, if the artist is using a language that seems to be bewildering; perhaps also the hostility some of this work generates comes Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-90097424232998834842008-07-25T23:51:00.000+10:002008-07-25T23:51:00.000+10:00Isn't every act of creativity an experiment in som...Isn't every act of creativity an experiment in some form or another?Geoffreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05409350618909242278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-61495303936769637732008-07-25T22:32:00.000+10:002008-07-25T22:32:00.000+10:00Alison's quite right in this, I think, TE; nobody ...Alison's quite right in this, I think, TE; nobody has been defending experiment (a word with which I'm getting sick myself) for the sake of experiment, though, and those who engage in such practices are fully aware that many experiments fail, sometimes horribly. And that some efforts are empty and devoid of content. As we can say, too, of artistic efforts that take no formal risks at all.<BR/><BRAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-73828916223944653562008-07-25T16:20:00.000+10:002008-07-25T16:20:00.000+10:00ObBook: Alan Ross: The Rest is Noisewhich sums up ...ObBook: Alan Ross: The Rest is Noise<BR/><BR/>which sums up the 20th century in contemporary music.<BR/><BR/>PS I think it is Alan, not Alec, very muzzy this time in the morning. But this is THE book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-54524821131832326682008-07-25T14:58:00.000+10:002008-07-25T14:58:00.000+10:00Hi TE: you should have been in Melbourne during fe...Hi TE: you should have been in Melbourne during festival time over the past couple of years ...! The chorus of those claiming that contemporary art (or even 50-year-old) was merely self-indulgent elitist wank was all but deafening. Though they seem (no doubt temporarily) to have gone a bit quiet after last year. The calm before the storm, perhaps. My understanding was too that Andrews came in forAlison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-89384266178717859362008-07-25T14:09:00.000+10:002008-07-25T14:09:00.000+10:00I'm not sure I agree that all experimentation is n...I'm not sure I agree that all experimentation is necessarily harshly and unfairly criticised. I remember seeing a couple of extraordinary productions at Wharf2Loud, both German, I believe, and directed by Benedict Andrews (Mr Kolpert comes to mind) that attracted large audiences and, though disturbing, were so well done that one couldn't help but be swept up in the sheer theatrical energy and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com