Essays about Culture Page 228

There it is again, this embarrassing, exhausted, spoiled word: smelling of kitsch, it has almost disappeared from our private and public discourse. Whether in sacred, secular or political matters, we–pardon me, some of us–are afraid it could remain unrequited, becoming debased and stained. Who says nowadays, without blushing, “I love you” to a woman, or…

In English playwright Howard Barker’s black comedy Scenes from an Execution, Galactica, a 16th-century woman painter, is commissioned by the Venetian republic to commemorate a bloody battle until her honest portrayal of the event has her condemned as an enemy of the state and imprisoned. Director Robert Allan Ackerman, who directs the play’s U.S.-premier production,…

Fund-raisers, including “prospect researchers,” are often viewed with disdain by many donors and people at foundations. They are seen as hucksters or snoops. But a strong case can be made for their valuable role in the larger interest of America’s charitable enterprise. We all know that the U.S. has a long and strong tradition of…

TCG has just published Full Moon and Other Plays, the second collection of plays by award-winning novelist Reynolds Price. Like his dramatic trilogy, New Music (published by TCG in 1990), this new collection is graced with Price’s undisputed talents for compassionate characterization and lyrical prose. Spanning his professional playwriting career, the collection includes Full Moon…

For this piece of coursework I will explore and explain five tense and dramatic scenes from the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Using these scenes I will explain how a production at the Globe Theatre could have been presented to the audience of the time, to maximise the drama and the characterisations. In…

Explore who is most to blame for the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt? Do you think the prince’s judgement was fair? How did the 2 films help you understand these issues? This scene is the pivoting point of the entire play. After the scene the entire play changes mood from happiness of love to tragedy….

A poem in which the narrator’s feelings are uncovered is “Visiting Hour” by Norman MacCaig. The narrator is visiting a dying friend or relative in hospital, and tries to evade his emotions on his way to the ward. When he arrives, he is overcome by grief and anguish, and leaves the visit feeling it has been…

His amazing knowledge of space and the unknown, combined with a wild imagination, given incentive by the creatures around him, gives the threat of a space invasion more plausible then it would without the knowledge and creativity. Since he is a scientist, his factual evidence backing up his imagination gives it a more realistic outcome,…

Throughout the book, Wells demonstrates the fragility of modern civilisation and the true awful nature of man revealed under stress. An example of the easily un-stabilized equilibrium of modern society is given at the beginning of Chapter Sixteen; “So you understand the roaring wave of fear that swept through the greatest city in the world…

The suicide scene begins quite cheerfully. Max and his wife are holding a ball at Manderley for the first time since Rebecca died, and Mrs. Dewinter is trying to look as glamorous as possible for what is her chance to show off herself as the lovely young Bride of Maxim Dewinter. At the front door,…