Agreed-upon conventions make communication possible. In the 1950s J.L. Austin famously explained how language is actually “performative”, that is, by saying certain things we are not just shaping streams of air flowing through our lungs, throat and mouth into sounds, we are actually physically shaping the world. Words, to put it succinctly, do. Which is […]
Category archives: Reviews
Nocturne, Albany
Becoming-fox, a quick manual: – Keep close to the walls – Practice your sweet, sweet love-making sounds only after dusk – Stare the fuckers down The full moon shines on Deptford town square. It smells of piss and one of the two guys in the corner is chewing down on a shawarma. In front of […]
Don’t be Burr, sir: The transformative politics of Hamilton on the London stage
I went to Hamilton and it was pretty great. Five Stars. Admittedly, when it comes to hot takes that one right there is pretty tepid. As Matt Trueman mentions in his WhatsonStage blog, if you’ve been sentient over the last two years, there is really no need for me to tell you just how critically-acclaimed, […]
Professor Bernhardi Schaubühne
When he turns away a Catholic priest from a delusional dying girl, esteemed director of a private clinic, the Jewish Professor Bernhardi staggers unwittingly into a political affair. His selfish peers manipulate facts to whip up a scandal and play off latent anti-Semitic resentments. What begins as a small confrontation between two men culminates in […]