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JUMP TO THE BLOG PROMOTED THIS MONTH: Schwellenangst by Colin Ellwood

Reality or Madness….or both? An Expedition with Pirandello into the new Zoom Universe

3/4/2020

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We ran an exploratory reading group session on Zoom on Friday 3rd April, in which 20 people took part. Our reading of Pirandello's Cosi e (se vi pare)   - translated by Tony Kushner as Absolutely (Perhaps)! - in the end ran for about 3 hours what with chatting at the beginning and a brief break in the middle, and apart from anything else was a very congenial and jolly break from social distancing.  And it was a fascinating and at times very funny play - a farce on the inaccessibility of 'truth' and identity, with its own example of enforced 'social distancing'.  Experiencing it in our current situation felt a bit like gleefully careering round the airy corridors of an abandoned Palladian mansion somewhere on the Campania....  
…a small-town civil servant is either his second wife (the first having died) or his first wife whom he has - deludedly/inadvertently - 'remarried' thinking she is someone else, after she returns to him following a breakdown. The former version of 'reality' is avowed to the curious townsfolk by the civil servant himself, the latter by his mother-in-law. Which one is mad of course depends on which version is true....and deciding that is complicated by the fact that both characters humour each other in their in-law's version of the reality.  Eventually the wife herself appears. But she remains veiled and refuses to confirm either version, preferring to sustain the mystery as a necessary and adequate condition of the family's continuing equanimity. Almost a 'model' of theatre itself, perhaps, as the embodiment of ambiguous stories, the 'truth' of which is irrelevant, provided they are emotionally 'useful' (and even or especially if they are useful to different people in different ways)
All it took to take part was clicking on a forwarded link, and having a device with a camera and microphone. Scripts are forwarded for downloading to second devices if you have such, AND scripts are scrolled across the main screen if you have only one device.
We are already very excited to conduct the next one.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact Colin Ellwood via: colinpresence@gmail.com

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    ​INDEX of dates:​​
    • WINTER 2021
    • AUTUMN 2020
    • ​SUMMER 2020​
    • SPRING 2020​
    • SPRING 2019
    • SUMMER-AUTUMN 2017
    • AUTUMN 2016-WINTER 2017​
    • WINTER 2015-SPRING 2016
    • SUMMER 2015
    • WINTER-SPRING 2015​
    • AUTUMN 2014
    • ​SPRING-SUMMER 2014​
    INDEX of playwrights:
    • Aleksandr Blok
    • Edward Bond
    • Oystein Brager
    • Fredrik Brattberg
    • Bertold Brecht
    • Helen Budge
    • Joseph Chaikin
    • John Chancer
    • Kia Corthon
    • Noel Coward
    • Per Olov Enquist
    • Regine Folkman Rosness
    • Jon Fosse
    • Julia Gale
    • Griselda Gambaro
    • Carla Grauls
    • David Grieg
    • Jaroslav Hasek
    • Jacob Hirdwall
    • Robert Holman
    • Odon Von Horvath
    • Simon Jaggers
    • Elfride Jelinek
    • Charlotte Keatley
    • Lucy Kirkwood
    • Marie-Héléne Larose-Truchon
    • Hannah Moscovitch
    • Gregory Motton
    • Rona Munro
    • Maria Nygren
    • John Osborne
    • Nick Payne
    • Harlold Pinter
    • Luigi Pirandello
    • Gerlind Reinshagen
    • Friedrich Schiller
    • Arthur Schnitzler
    • Sam Shepard
    • ​Laurie Slade
    • N.F. Simpson
    • Simon Stephens
    • Nis-Momme Stockman
    • Ramon del Valle-Inclan
    • David Watson
    • John Webster
    • Oliver Yellop
    • Carla Zuniga
    INDEX of plays:
    • Absolutely (Perhaps)! by L. Pirandello
    • Asking Too Much by G. Gambaro
    • ​Basement Flat by R. Munro
    • ​A Beautiful Room to Die In by J. Gale
    • ​Being a Norwegian by D. Grieg
    • Bohemian Lights by R. del Valle-Inclan
    • ​A Breakfast of Eels by R. Holman
    • ​Breaking Horses by S. Jaggers
    • ​Cloud Yellow by O. Brager
    • ​Country Music by S.Stephens
    • ​Emilie's Reason by C. Keatley
    • ​Emperor Fukishima by J. Hirdwall
    • ​Exposed by R. Folkman Rossnes
    • ​Freedom by J. Fosse
    • ​The Frugal Horn by Nick Payne
    • ​The Good Soldier Schweyk by J. Hasek
    • ​Grey Collar by H. Budge
    • ​ Herons by S. Stephens
    • ​Hummingbird by M. Nygren
    • ​I'd Rather Be Eaten by Dogs by C. Zuniga
    • ​I am Gavrilo Princip by Oliver Yellop
    • ​Joan of Arc (The Maid of Orlean) by F. Schiller
    • ​Judgement Day by O. Von Horvath
    • Lear by E. Bond
    • ​Little One by H. Moscovitch
    • ​Made for Him by C. Grauls
    • ​The Man Who Ate the World by N.M. Stockman
    • ​Midnight by M.H. Larose-Truchon
    • ​Missing Cat by M. Nygren
    • Mother by Trade by G. Gambaro
    • ​A Night Out by H. Pinter
    • ​NSWF by L. Kirkwood
    • ​A Patriot for Me by J. Osborne
    • ​Rafts and Dreams by R. Holman
    • ​Rage by S. Stephens
    • ​The Returnings by F. Brattberg
    • ​La Ronde by A. Schnitzler
    • ​S.A.D. Summers of Princess Diana by C. Zuniga
    • ​Schweyk in the Second World War by B. Brecht
    • ​Siamese Twins by G. Gambaro
    • ​A Short Life of Trouble by S. Shepard
    • ​Star Chamber by N. Coward
    • ​The Stranger by A. Blok
    • ​Sunday's Children by G. Reinshagen
    • ​Supermoon by L. Slade
    • That's What I Call Music by D. Watson
    • ​The War In Heaven by S. Shepard
    • ​Whatever Happens Happens by G. Gambaro
    • ​The White Devil by J. Webster
    • ​When the World was Good by J. Chaikin & S. Shepard
    • ​A Worthless Man by G. Motton
    • Wut (Rage) by E. Jelinek
    • ​7/11 by K. Corthon​
    INDEX of articles:​
    • ​SUMMER READING SEASON 2020
    • A Collaborative Complicity by Charlotte Keatley 
    • ​A Blind Poet and a Blind King Corralled in a Discovery of Chairs by Colin Ellwood (07/10/16)​​
    • ​An Atmosphere of Daring by Gwen MacKeith
    • ​Keeping Afloat by Siubhan Harrison
    • ​Between the Lines by Christopher Naylor 
    • ​Prospecting by Bill Nash 
    • ​Missing Voices by Jamie deCourcey (02/05/15)
    • The Propensity to be Enriching by Danny Horn (19/01/15)
    INDEX of contributors:
    • John Chancer
    • Jamie de Courcey
    • ​Colin Ellwood
    • ​Tom Freeman
    • Valerie Gogan
    • Siubhan Harrison
    • Danny Horn
    • ​Charlotte Keatley
    • Stephanie Königer
    • Gwen MacKeith
    • Caitlin McLeod
    • ​Bill Nash
    • Christopher Naylor
    • Alex Ramon
    • ​Stephanie Rutherford
    • ​Simon Stephens
    • Jack Tarlton
    • Oliver Yellop​
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