tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post2866552937109107135..comments2024-02-18T19:36:43.844+11:00Comments on theatre notes: The Agony of Mike DaiseyAlison Croggonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-47189023783485855322012-04-09T00:49:49.623+10:002012-04-09T00:49:49.623+10:00I just re-read Alison's comment on George'...I just re-read Alison's comment on George's blog that were copied here, while looking for something else, and have another quick thought (again, I'm supposed to be doing something else). That's regarding Alison's excellent, concise account of Coleridge's remark on disbelief. How commonly it's misunderstood! And even misquoted: the word "willing" is now often John Branchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12323569021826786444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-50850652311322515912012-03-21T17:26:10.866+11:002012-03-21T17:26:10.866+11:00Thanks, Anon, for your fascinating contributions; ...Thanks, Anon, for your fascinating contributions; and I would love to hear your thought, John, if you ever find the time. I know exactly how you feel.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-20166307386185973952012-03-21T04:47:27.965+11:002012-03-21T04:47:27.965+11:00I'm most intrigued by what Alison said in her ...I'm most intrigued by what Alison said in her post to George's blog, copied here, on authenticity and the quick unquestioning acceptance of what's being offered.<br /><br />Regrettably, I have not only a day job that last week and this consumes more than 40 hours of my weekday time; I have also a handful of writing projects to pursue. (And some minimal semblance of a life as well.) I John Branchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12323569021826786444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-81734180502623829462012-03-19T11:27:11.507+11:002012-03-19T11:27:11.507+11:00Same anonymous here:
Yes journalism has had a lo...Same anonymous here: <br /><br />Yes journalism has had a lot of bad press! But for theatre, it MUST be different. In the space of a performance (& beyond, if the experience has quality) we, as spectators, must believe in the work - as distinct from agreeing with it. Penetrating imagination, language, experience, journey - those are the hallmarks of great writing & great theatre - becauseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-31562089333598122092012-03-19T09:52:47.296+11:002012-03-19T09:52:47.296+11:00PS: I once watched, with my mouth open, a senior j...PS: I once watched, with my mouth open, a senior journalist make up an entire story when he couldn't get anyone to corroborate an exciting rumour. I'm not sure, even if it was in the bad old days, that that practice has entirely vanished from the newsroom... And the "beatup" is so regular occurence in news journalism, in the relentless 24 hour news cycle, that no one even Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-12249561298937365682012-03-19T09:37:47.307+11:002012-03-19T09:37:47.307+11:00Hi George, Anon: It's kind of interesting to s...Hi George, Anon: It's kind of interesting to speculate <i>why</i> Daisey felt the need to take on the mantel of journalism. The fact remains that by doing so he attracted notice and serious attention that quite likely would not have happened otherwise. Art itself, no matter how serious its critique, hardly ever gets out of the ghetto of the arts pages, and it's unsurprising that an artistAlison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-28019817571802777642012-03-19T01:22:48.837+11:002012-03-19T01:22:48.837+11:00"...it can end up falsifying the practice of ..."...it can end up falsifying the practice of art as much as it does fact." What you say here, Alison, goes to the very heart of theatre & theatre making practice. Daisey’s human concerns about the injustices being perpetrated at Foxconn are worthy, his masterful storytelling is worthy, his conviction is worthy. What is not at all worthy is his lying about what he was told & whatAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-51932840282184848362012-03-19T01:20:40.652+11:002012-03-19T01:20:40.652+11:00By the way, I hope I'm not misremembering this...By the way, I hope I'm not misremembering this, but there's an interesting passage in the film of Spalding Gray's <i>Swimming to Cambodia</i> (it's not in the published text) in which he says something like, "Everything I tell you tonight is true. Except the part about the banana sticking to the wall." It's an interesting statement -- and when he does get to the partGeorge Hunkahttp://www.superfluitiesredux.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-91907456883142696352012-03-19T01:08:31.516+11:002012-03-19T01:08:31.516+11:00Alison,
The U.S. had its own version of Johann Ha...Alison,<br /><br />The U.S. had its own version of Johann Hari in <i>New Republic</i> writer Stephen Glass; his story is amply told in a "docudrama" directed by Billy Ray called <i>Shattered Glass</i>, starring Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard. It's a very underrated film and worth seeing.<br /><br />Thanks again for the link,<br />GeorgeGeorge Hunkahttp://www.superfluitiesredux.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-56796060588970257992012-03-18T17:41:10.697+11:002012-03-18T17:41:10.697+11:00Yes; it's those assertions of factual truth th...Yes; it's those assertions of factual truth that make Daisey at fault, both theatrically and journalistically. I didn't realise, in my initial reading, quite how absolute his initial claims to journalistic truth were; he certainly makes none of those claims in his own statement about TAL's retraction. I have a real problem, for reasons aligned to this case, with artistic work that Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-37076783001877181432012-03-18T16:22:09.235+11:002012-03-18T16:22:09.235+11:00As a professional dramaturg, I'd consider myse...As a professional dramaturg, I'd consider myself a savvy theatre-goer, and I don't think that it was naivety that led me to believe that the stories in Daisey's monologues were true. It was the fact that he told us they were true. He told us "this is true" in the monologue, itself. When questioned in post-show discussions, he asserted - this is all true. In interviews, the Cristin Kellyhttp://www.australiantheatrewriters.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-38535561908634568842012-03-18T14:29:54.493+11:002012-03-18T14:29:54.493+11:00I do think that Daisey is culpable, in that he mis...I do think that Daisey is culpable, in that he misrepresented the nature of the work in publicity around the show, thus forming expectations of documentation about the show's idea of truthfulness that plainly didn't pertain. Ira Glass's outrage is totally justified: he feels, rightly, that his show's expectations of ethical behaviour have been traduced by Daisey's Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-83735850867697336802012-03-18T13:33:18.829+11:002012-03-18T13:33:18.829+11:00It feels like a very familiar issue. Colbert and S...It feels like a very familiar issue. Colbert and Stewart have been regularly tarred by the journalistic establishment as degrading the practice of journalism. They in turn say 'but we're not trying to be journalists, it's clearly comedy,' but the likes of Ted Koppel point to their ratings and the surveys that suggest that some young Americans get their news via said comedy and CNPnoreply@blogger.com