I press the inside of my palm onto my throat, thumb resting on my jaw bone. The tongue in my mouth, sticky and heavy, presses against my front teeth. A heartbeat against the heel of my hand. I begin to hum. These vibrations. This is my voice. I rip it out. As I dig my […]
Tag archives: Reviews
The Lesson at The Hope Theatre
A new academic year is upon us and across the country swathes of new university students are settling into halls and grappling with their long reading lists. As freshers flu makes the round these first weeks, the Hope Theatre in London presents Eugene Ionesco’s théâtre de l’absurde piece The Lesson and offers a chilling take on that often most […]
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
1987. Thatcher has been in power for eight years and Rick Astley promises he’s never going to never give us up. 1997. Seemingly overnight, Tony Blair turns the UK into a meritocracy and the Spice Girls recommend that we spice up our lives. 2007. The Great Global iPhone dictatorship begins and Britney has her breakdown. […]
People Show 130: The Last Straw
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 […]