| Saturday, 29 September, 2001, 16:50 GMT 17:50 UK
Iran's love-hate relationship with the UK
Mr Straw's visit marks a new thaw in relations with Iran
By the BBC's David BlowThroughout the 19th century, and right up to World War II, Britain and Russia - later the Soviet Union - were the dominant powers in Iran.
But the recent visit to Iran by the UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, was the first since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The relationship between London and Tehran is complex, weighed down by the burden of history. Britain and Iran have had a long and close relationship in which there has been much affection and mutual respect - but also a fair degree of justifiable suspicion on the Iranian side.
What? Our young new prime minister, Harold Wilson - the Tony Blair of his day - with pipe and gannex overcoat? Was he behind this? In fact he wasn't. Mansur was killed by an Islamic militant. But my friend's reaction was fairly typical in a country that had experienced a century and a half of British interference in its affairs. Mossadeq toppled After all, it was barely 10 years since Britain had helped to overthrow another Iranian prime minister, Mohammad Mossadeq, because he wanted Iran, not Britain, to control his country's vast oil reserves.
I thought this absurd until I returned to England and went to see someone at my old university whose job it was to give advice on what sort of career one might usefully take up. As soon as I mentioned that I spoke quite good Persian his eyes lit up. "Have you ever thought about a career in intelligence?" he asked. I did not follow up the suggestion - although Britain and other western countries might have avoided a lot of mistakes if they had been better informed about what was going on in Iran under the last Shah.
And in the summer of 1906 some 14,000 people who were demanding a constitution and a parliament took refuge in the extensive grounds of the UK legation in Tehran. The constitutionalists won their battle - the first such victory in the Islamic world - and the UK embassy was later given a magnificent, great embroidered tent as a token of thanks. It remains its proudest possession. Best-loved Englishman in Iran Although the hopes of the constitutionalists were later disappointed, the revolution of 1906 nonetheless marked the beginning of a democratic process that is still unfolding in Iran. And then there was a remarkable Englishman called Edward Granville Browne, who was a Persian scholar of Cambridge University in the early part of the last century. He is still perhaps the best known and best loved English man or woman in Iran, and his achievements have done much to redeem the British in the eyes of Iranians. His ground-breaking, scholarly and elegantly written four-volume Literary History of Persia, which appeared between 1902 and 1924, made a lasting impression in a country which values its writers and poets above all else.
Seeing me, one of the modernists got up and said: "when our English guest goes home his friends will ask him what's new in Persian poetry - and I fear he will shake his head and say 'nothing has changed since E.G.Browne!'" Browne was also a tireless supporter of political freeedom in Persia - often taking on his own government over the issue -- and his home in Cambridge became a refuge for Persian exiles. When he died in 1925 the distinguished Persian scholar, Mirza Muhammad Qazvini, wrote that "the existence of Browne was for Persia a God-given blessing." For all the to-ings and fro-ings of ministers, in the end it is an English academic who has done more than anyone to bring Britain and Iran closer together. Love-hate relationship It would also be quite wrong to suggest that Iranians have felt nothing but resentment towards Britain. It has been a real case of a love-hate relationship and many Iranians have been been passionate anglophiles.
In the winter of 1940, at a time when he was utterly penniless, Kermani was invited by the German press attaché in Tehran, to write pro-Nazi articles for Iranian newspapers. Although he desperately needed the money, he looked at the attaché coldly and replied: "I am surprised that you are so foolish as to make such a suggestion to a Balliol man". He turned on his heel and left - to disappear again, as Sykes puts it, "into his dim, hated familiar world of poverty, cold, hunger and hard-earned drink." Better relations? Britain and Iran ought now to be able to look forward to a much better relationship. That is not just because the Cold War is over or that Britain's role in the world has changed.
A young Iranian once told me that he wanted to marry an English woman because his children would then inherit the secret of succeeding in the world. The Islamic Revolution of 1979, whatever one may think of it, has changed all that. Iranians have finally taken charge of their destiny. They may have made mistakes in the process, but they have thrown off that debilitating sense of powerlessness, that inferiority complex that sadly continues to hold back other countries in the region. |
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Iran
Anti-Iranian sentiment
Anti-Iranian sentiment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Anti-Iranian sentiment (Persian: احساسات ضدایرانی) is feelings and expression of hostility, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice towards Iran and its culture, and towards persons based on their association with Iran and Iranian culture. Its opposite is Iranophilia.
Historically, prejudice against Iranians particularly on the part of Arabs following theIslamic conquest of Persia. More recently, anti-Iranian sentiment has been prominent also in the Western world and in international media.
Contents
[hide]In the United States[edit source]
See also: Iranian American and United States-Iran relations
According to the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), nearly half of Iranian Americans surveyed in 2008 by Zogby International have themselves experienced or personally know another Iranian American who has experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity or country of origin. The most common types of discrimination reported are airport security, social discrimination, employment or business discrimination, racial profiling and discrimination at the hands of immigration officials.[1]
The Iranian hostage crisis of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 precipitated a wave of anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States, directed both against the new Islamic regime and Iranian nationals and immigrants. Even though such sentiments gradually declined after the release of the hostages at the start of 1981, they sometimes flare up.[citation needed] In response, some Iranian immigrants to the U.S. have distanced themselves from their nationality and instead identify primarily on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliations.[2]
Litigation[edit source]
- In 2009 Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to pay $1.55 million to resolve a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the securities firm of discriminating against an Iranian employee. The government accused the firm of refusing to promote Majid Borumand and later firing him on the basis of his national origin and religion.[3]
Apple[edit source]
In 2012, an Apple store in Georgia refused to sell an iPad to an American citizen of Iranian background after hearing her speaking Persian to a relative. An Apple store manager cited the U.S. trade sanctions which prohibits the sale of goods to Iran, however, in this case, the Apple store did not know anything besides her ethnicity. Another Iranian-American from Virginia reported similar treatment by the Apple store after trying to help an Iranian student purchase an iPhone.[4]
In the media, think tanks, or government[edit source]
Politically conservative commentator Ann Coulter has referred to Iranians as "ragheads" (though she later on clarified that she was referring to the government figures, she would later come out in support of Green Revolution protesters in 2009)[6] and Brent Scowcroft has called the Iranian people "rug merchants". Additionally, the Columbus Dispatch recently ran a cartoon that portrayed Iran as a sewer with cockroachescrawling out of it.[7]
In May 2005, Fox News broadcast a special program called Iran: The Nuclear Threat, hosted by Chris Wallace. Kaveh Afrasiab, an analyst and expert on Iran who once worked with Wallace at ABC, noted that the program "lacked the minutest evidence of objectivity, displaying instead piles of prejudice on top of prejudice reminding one of the Iraq weapons of mass destruction threat played up by the right-wing, sensationalist network during 2002 and early 2003, duping millions of American viewers about the authenticity of the Bush administration's allegations against the regime of Saddam Hussein".[8] Other examples of stereotyping Iranians as terrorists and anti-West is found in comic books. Dennis O'Neil, a comic book writer and editor, notes in the postscript of Batman: A Death in the Family:
| “ | "these sagas (comic books) are more than just entertainments, at least to many readers; they are the post-industrial equivalent of folk tales and as such, they have gone pretty deeply into a lot of psyches." | ” |
In the aforementioned story, Batman's nemesis, the Joker tries to sell Lebanese extremists a nuclear weapon before fleeing to Iran. The Joker then meets Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who appoints him as the formal ambassador to the United Nations. In this function, the Joker addresses the United Nations General Assembly, saying he and the "country's current leaders...have a lot in common", before lethally gassing the assembly.[5] The mentioning of Iran was later retconned to the fictional Middle Eastern state of Qurac and panel with the image of the Ayatollah removed. Colonel Abdul al-Rahman first appeared in the comic book "Ultimates" as a 17-year-old Muslim boy from Iranian Azerbaijan (as stated in The Ultimates v2 #12) who witnesses Captain America's led invasion of his country. Outraged, he becomes the Middle East counterpart to Captain America before he is finally killed by Captain America.
In October 2007, Debra Cagan, a senior official at The Pentagon, shocked several British MPs when she declared "I hate all Iranians".[9]
In 2009 Martin Kramer, a Harvard professor, warned about the dangers of allowing Iranian Americans to get too close to power during the 2009American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference:[10]
| “ | Iran can have behind the scenes leverage over Iranian Americans, many of whom occupy key positions in the think tanks and are even being brought now into the administration...What this means is that we have to be extremely cautious about what we take away from Iranian diaspora communities when it comes to understanding Iran. |
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Casting workshop
Making yourself more castable.
Your look must understand your abilities in such a way that your casting is clear. As a true actor dedicated to the craft, you may feel like it shouldn’t matter what your look is because you can play anything—you’re an actor. This may be true to a certain degree, but often your look has to be defined and fit somewhere between the stereotype and the archetype.
Having a strong vision will help you in knowing the types of headshots to get and presenting that image to casting directors.
Group Questions (5 mins)
1. What factors will affect whether you are cast i.e. whether you will get the part or not?
Acting skills, talent, technique, preparation, friendliness, ability to take direction, stage presence, alternative skills and previous experience.
2. What factors will affect how you will be cast i.e. what kind of role you will play?
Physical qualities (short, tall, young, old), voice qualities (gentle, nasal, resonant), range (whether you can play lots of different character types).
These exercises will help you to be more castable.
Exercise 1 (25 mins)
To assist the students in developing an understanding of casting types in general is a great way to start them understanding how to market themselves.
1. Pick out 10 or so TV programs and films, and categorize the actors.
2. Make notes and pick out 3 films with roles of your age and gender and create categories of the types of actors.
3. Do the same for TV dramas.
Exercise 2 (20 mins)
The idea is that the students create a range of roles that go together, but it’s not the entire spectrum of roles for that gender and age. As an inexperienced actor they are still establishing themselves, you’re not going to be cast in the whole range. They need to know what roles fit together in a range realistically – from point A to point B or C, but not from A to Z in the whole range of roles.
1. Collate the evidence from around the room and begin to draw a brainstorm, which then is converted, into a table that categorizes the types of role that fit together.
2. Once you identify the types of roles you are seeing over and over, see if some of the categories you’ve created fit together.
3. For example, you might group strong characters in their thirties to forties as a doctor-lawyer type. Or more nurturing types as a mum/dad-teacher-therapist. Perhaps a femme fatale-mistress-spy. Put some of the category types together to begin to create a grouping of similar roles they would fit into.
Now once they have observed the general industry casting, then turn back to your own casting.
Exercise 3 (40 mins)
Take a self-inventory.
Think about what types of roles you would play and where you would fit.
1. In what type of roles do you see yourself?
2. Are there stars you would like to exemplify? What roles have they played?
3. What qualities do you want to come across to others?
4. What qualities do you think already come across to others?
Whatever category and look you go with, it should always bring together what you feel about yourself and how others perceive you. You can’t just decide you want to be a Tom Holland type if you have more of a Woody Allen look.
Your own perception of yourself as well as the outside perception have to merge.
1. To clarify this, make a list of the qualities you want to present and have come across. Then list what you think currently comes across to others. Once you have the list of what you think, then go to the next step.
2. Do a survey asking the other students what what they think (we need honest answers here!).
3. Compare their feedback to your self-inventory. See what you need to do to further develop that look you want.
a. You might need to make some changes in your hair, clothes, or make-up n preparation for an audition.
Be realistic in your aspirations. Accept that there is a starting point you are born with.
Will Rennison at 07:49
Share
Your look must understand your abilities in such a way that your casting is clear. As a true actor dedicated to the craft, you may feel like it shouldn’t matter what your look is because you can play anything—you’re an actor. This may be true to a certain degree, but often your look has to be defined and fit somewhere between the stereotype and the archetype.
Having a strong vision will help you in knowing the types of headshots to get and presenting that image to casting directors.
Group Questions (5 mins)
1. What factors will affect whether you are cast i.e. whether you will get the part or not?
Acting skills, talent, technique, preparation, friendliness, ability to take direction, stage presence, alternative skills and previous experience.
2. What factors will affect how you will be cast i.e. what kind of role you will play?
Physical qualities (short, tall, young, old), voice qualities (gentle, nasal, resonant), range (whether you can play lots of different character types).
These exercises will help you to be more castable.
Exercise 1 (25 mins)
To assist the students in developing an understanding of casting types in general is a great way to start them understanding how to market themselves.
1. Pick out 10 or so TV programs and films, and categorize the actors.
2. Make notes and pick out 3 films with roles of your age and gender and create categories of the types of actors.
3. Do the same for TV dramas.
Exercise 2 (20 mins)
The idea is that the students create a range of roles that go together, but it’s not the entire spectrum of roles for that gender and age. As an inexperienced actor they are still establishing themselves, you’re not going to be cast in the whole range. They need to know what roles fit together in a range realistically – from point A to point B or C, but not from A to Z in the whole range of roles.
1. Collate the evidence from around the room and begin to draw a brainstorm, which then is converted, into a table that categorizes the types of role that fit together.
2. Once you identify the types of roles you are seeing over and over, see if some of the categories you’ve created fit together.
3. For example, you might group strong characters in their thirties to forties as a doctor-lawyer type. Or more nurturing types as a mum/dad-teacher-therapist. Perhaps a femme fatale-mistress-spy. Put some of the category types together to begin to create a grouping of similar roles they would fit into.
Now once they have observed the general industry casting, then turn back to your own casting.
Exercise 3 (40 mins)
Take a self-inventory.
Think about what types of roles you would play and where you would fit.
1. In what type of roles do you see yourself?
2. Are there stars you would like to exemplify? What roles have they played?
3. What qualities do you want to come across to others?
4. What qualities do you think already come across to others?
Whatever category and look you go with, it should always bring together what you feel about yourself and how others perceive you. You can’t just decide you want to be a Tom Holland type if you have more of a Woody Allen look.
Your own perception of yourself as well as the outside perception have to merge.
1. To clarify this, make a list of the qualities you want to present and have come across. Then list what you think currently comes across to others. Once you have the list of what you think, then go to the next step.
2. Do a survey asking the other students what what they think (we need honest answers here!).
3. Compare their feedback to your self-inventory. See what you need to do to further develop that look you want.
a. You might need to make some changes in your hair, clothes, or make-up n preparation for an audition.
Be realistic in your aspirations. Accept that there is a starting point you are born with.
Will Rennison at 07:49
Share
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Polka Theatre Research
Polka Theatre is one of the few venues in the UK which is dedicated to producing and presenting work for young audiences. Since the doors opened in 1979, this unique venue has been entertaining children with resonant, engaging and exciting theatre.
Over 100,000 children a year come to Polka and are inspired, stimulated and engaged by theatre, often for the first time. Polka strives to stir the emotions, spark the imagination and, most of all, entertain. Its two theatre spaces, the Main Theatre and the Adventure Theatre are designed especially for children so that their first taste of theatre is welcoming and relevant.
At Polka children aged 0 to 13 enjoy a wide-range of experiences designed to make theatre a natural part of their lives: from the powerful drama Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home; to hilarious family shows like Flat Stanley; fantastic world-premieres of new plays for children like Cloud Pictures; and adaptations of well-loved stories like We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Polka Theatre for the very young is a vital part of Polka’s artistic programming. Over the past few years Polka has developed its Early Years work and established itself as a centre for innovation in this field. Children as young as 9 months and their families are brought into a colourful and stimulating environment where simple stories are told in a sensory and visual way. Early Years shows also visit Polka from across Europe encouraging the telling of a diverse range of stories in a varied and exciting way.
Creative programming keeps Polka’s work fresh and relevant. Audiences can expect imaginative new writers, dynamic performers, inventive adaptations of popular stories and resonant subjects. Everything we do is focused on providing children with thrilling world-class theatre.
At the heart of Polka’s work is a programme of learning that encourages children to explore and develop creatively. Every Polka show is supported by a learning programme. Schools visiting the theatre can benefit from online free resource packs and rehearsal diaries, show-related workshops and after-show talks. Polka embraces family learning and encourages it through exciting family days, after-show events and show-related activities packs. It also runs a regular programme of out-of-school clubs and summer schools giving children the freedom to explore their creativity and learn a wide-range of performance skills from storytelling to puppetry.
Polka is first and foremost a local theatre, loved by the people of Wimbledon and the wider London community, but enjoys an international reputation, known the world over as a pioneer of theatre for children, consistently setting the standard and raising audience’s expectations.
When you come and see a show at Polka you won’t just enjoy the theatre. Polka’s welcoming building is a resource for local people with its friendly café, worry-free foyer with big toys and a book corner, a charming garden and a playground complete with a Wendy House and giant cat! It is playful, fun and interactive - Polka stimulates even the biggest child’s imagination and is a magical place where you can share a special moment with your children.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Lesson notes
We did a lesson with Will in which he mini-workshopped each of the three plays. The aim of this session was to ease us into the commonground season and to explore the main themes of each three plays.
We started with The Frontline by Che Walker
We split up into groups and discussed and analysed what the term 'Frontline' meant. We discovered that there can be many different connotations and interpretations of the word 'Frontline.' Some immediately jumped to the conclusion that it indicated the literal 'Frontline' of a war zone. Others considered metaphorical 'Frontlines' such as being representative of a political or social movement. We made the following mind-map or spider-diagram (whichever you prefer) of our discussion.
We started with The Frontline by Che Walker
We split up into groups and discussed and analysed what the term 'Frontline' meant. We discovered that there can be many different connotations and interpretations of the word 'Frontline.' Some immediately jumped to the conclusion that it indicated the literal 'Frontline' of a war zone. Others considered metaphorical 'Frontlines' such as being representative of a political or social movement. We made the following mind-map or spider-diagram (whichever you prefer) of our discussion.
We then moved onto looking at 13 by Mike Bartlett.
We did a very interesting exercise which I really enjoyed. Will told us to each find a space alone in the room with a piece of paper and a pen. We were then told to continuously write without taking our pen off the page for 30 seconds. We had to begin our sentences with "I believe in..." and whenever our thoughts got blocked we had to continuously write "I believe in in in in..." until we were able to finish the sentence.
Mine read as follows:
I believe in free education. I believe in feminism. I believe in better rights for prisoners. I believe in in in in being kind to others. I believe in in in in in in in in animal rights. I believe in in in helping less well off countries. I believe in in in a good quality education for all children around the world. I believe in in in in in in in the elderly. I believe in the world. I believe in in in in happiness.
We then walked around the room reading out what we had written, experimenting with the volume and power we put into our vocal performance of the piece. We then labelled each other A and B and then the A's would walked around to all the various different B's whispering what they had written. Then at random points Will would tap on one of the B's shoulders and they would have to repeat (with appropriate adaptation and ad-libbing) what had just been whispered to them loudly and with passion and volume so the whole class could hear.
I really enjoyed this exercise because the repetition throughout the workshop of my own beliefs cemented them as real thoughts in my mind. This exercise helped me to dig deep down into my subconscious and to find my inner beliefs, whilst cementing them as real thoughts and feelings within me.
We then moved onto Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.
Will made us note down our responses to the following questions.
What difference does theatre make to your life? Where would you be without it?
Theatre makes me empathize with and understands situations that I have not personally been exposed to in my life. Theatre gives me hope and a reason to get up in the mornings. It gives me direction and a purpose in life. Theatre empowers me to allow myself to be human. Through theatre I can strip away all of my own characteristics and put on someone elses. Theatre challenges me to push my boundaries and makes possible what I thought was impossible. Theatre makes me feel like an intelligent active participant and member of society. Most of all theatre provides me with a dream and gives me something to be passionate about.
Without theatre I would be an apathetic boring person. I would do nothing all day and I would be a mediocre person doing a mediocre job earning mediocre money for the rest of my life. Without theatre I wouldn't live a happy life.
All in all it was a great lesson and I feel like I learnt a lot today and absorbed as much information as I could despite my sleep deprivation.
The Total Actor
What makes the total actor?
When the actor “commits an act of sincerity, when he unveils himself, opens and gives himself, in an extreme, solemn gesture and does not hold back”(Grotowski, 124), one knows that this actor has achieved the “total act”(Grotowski, 125).
Grotowski, Jerzy. Towards A Poor Theatre. Routledge, 2002.
- Having the ability to command the space.
- Having the ability to command and control their own voice and vocal qualities.
- Having the ability to command their own body in a physically precise way.
- Having the ability to allow their instincts to take over and control their action.
- Having the ability to commit to really becoming a character.
- Having the ability to adapt themselves to different situations.
- Having the ability to think on their feet.
- Having the ability to command the audience's interest and to consistently engage the audience.
When the actor “commits an act of sincerity, when he unveils himself, opens and gives himself, in an extreme, solemn gesture and does not hold back”(Grotowski, 124), one knows that this actor has achieved the “total act”(Grotowski, 125).
Grotowski, Jerzy. Towards A Poor Theatre. Routledge, 2002.
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Brief synopsis
13 by Mike Bartlett
Work out what you want and go for it with all your conviction and don t care if you seem outrageous or stupid... All that s needed, in the end, is belief. Morning in London, Autumn 2011. Across the city, people wake up from an identical, terrifying dream. At the same moment, a young man named John returns home after years away to find economic gloom, ineffective protest, and a Prime Minister about to declare war. But John has a vision for the future and a way to make it happen. Coincidences, omens and visions collide with political reality in this epic new play from the writer of Earthquakes in London. Set in a dark and magical landscape, it depicts a London both familiar and strange, a London staring into the void. In a year which has seen governments fall as the people take to the streets, 13 explores the meaning of personal responsibility, the hold that the past has over the future and the nature of belief itself.
The Frontline by Che Walker
Saturday night outside the tube: God, strip bars, weed, crack, lost old men, unemployed actors and vegans all collide in a riptide of chaos on the streets of London. There's Beth the reformed Christian and Erkenwald the hot-dog seller, old Ragdale on a quest to find his daughter, actor-playwright and egomaniac Mordechai Thurrock, and Cockburn, Elliot and Clayton the dealers and junkies whose trade both sustains and destroys the lives of those around them.
In this vibrant and darkly comic new play, a dozen private stories emerge and their voices give utterance to a storm of subjects and feelings: pop culture and sexual fantasy, the ruins of empire and the delusions of religion, foreign oil and prehistoric London. A panorama of contemporary London encompassing the cruel and the tender, the gutter and the stars.
Che Walker's The Frontline premiered at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, in July 2008.
Work out what you want and go for it with all your conviction and don t care if you seem outrageous or stupid... All that s needed, in the end, is belief. Morning in London, Autumn 2011. Across the city, people wake up from an identical, terrifying dream. At the same moment, a young man named John returns home after years away to find economic gloom, ineffective protest, and a Prime Minister about to declare war. But John has a vision for the future and a way to make it happen. Coincidences, omens and visions collide with political reality in this epic new play from the writer of Earthquakes in London. Set in a dark and magical landscape, it depicts a London both familiar and strange, a London staring into the void. In a year which has seen governments fall as the people take to the streets, 13 explores the meaning of personal responsibility, the hold that the past has over the future and the nature of belief itself.
The Frontline by Che Walker
Saturday night outside the tube: God, strip bars, weed, crack, lost old men, unemployed actors and vegans all collide in a riptide of chaos on the streets of London. There's Beth the reformed Christian and Erkenwald the hot-dog seller, old Ragdale on a quest to find his daughter, actor-playwright and egomaniac Mordechai Thurrock, and Cockburn, Elliot and Clayton the dealers and junkies whose trade both sustains and destroys the lives of those around them.
In this vibrant and darkly comic new play, a dozen private stories emerge and their voices give utterance to a storm of subjects and feelings: pop culture and sexual fantasy, the ruins of empire and the delusions of religion, foreign oil and prehistoric London. A panorama of contemporary London encompassing the cruel and the tender, the gutter and the stars.
Che Walker's The Frontline premiered at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, in July 2008.
Our Country's Good By
Timberlake Wertenbaker
This play is based on fact. By the middle of the seventeenth century the middle class and wealthier citizens of England were deeply frightened of a rising crime rate - particularly crimes against property - which had been created by a swelling population and widespread unemployment. did not result in funding for such construction. The idea was proposed that convicts could be transported - exiled would be a more accurate term - to a remote part of the globe where the British where they could be used as free laborers to create a strategically located naval outpost: Australia.
When the first fleet arrived at this new penal colony, carrying the first Europeans who would live there, it is estimated that the Aboriginal population of the continent numbered about 300,000, that is roughly one person to every ten square miles. The Royal Marines who served as jailers resented being ordered to this ignoble duty in such an undeveloped part of the world. Their own diaries have shown historians that many of the captors took out their frustrations in brutal treatment of the prisoners. We also learn from these same sources that, in 1789, several of the convicts and one of the officers decided to put on a play for the enjoyment of the entire camp. None had any experience in the theatre, and only a few of the convicts could read, but, against all odds play on the Australian continent, but also in teaching themselves and their observers much about compassion, cooperation, and creativity.
Ms. Timberlake Wertenbaker, a playwright who gained much acclaim in the British theatre in the 1980’s, wrote this play after reading about the history of the convict transportation and this noteworthy amateur theatrical performance. It is her design, in Our Country’s Good, that the actors play both convicts and jailers -- a rich device that places on trial all of our assumptions about what “civilization” means. One critic “a tribute to the transforming power of drama.
This play is based on fact. By the middle of the seventeenth century the middle class and wealthier citizens of England were deeply frightened of a rising crime rate - particularly crimes against property - which had been created by a swelling population and widespread unemployment. did not result in funding for such construction. The idea was proposed that convicts could be transported - exiled would be a more accurate term - to a remote part of the globe where the British where they could be used as free laborers to create a strategically located naval outpost: Australia.
When the first fleet arrived at this new penal colony, carrying the first Europeans who would live there, it is estimated that the Aboriginal population of the continent numbered about 300,000, that is roughly one person to every ten square miles. The Royal Marines who served as jailers resented being ordered to this ignoble duty in such an undeveloped part of the world. Their own diaries have shown historians that many of the captors took out their frustrations in brutal treatment of the prisoners. We also learn from these same sources that, in 1789, several of the convicts and one of the officers decided to put on a play for the enjoyment of the entire camp. None had any experience in the theatre, and only a few of the convicts could read, but, against all odds play on the Australian continent, but also in teaching themselves and their observers much about compassion, cooperation, and creativity.
Ms. Timberlake Wertenbaker, a playwright who gained much acclaim in the British theatre in the 1980’s, wrote this play after reading about the history of the convict transportation and this noteworthy amateur theatrical performance. It is her design, in Our Country’s Good, that the actors play both convicts and jailers -- a rich device that places on trial all of our assumptions about what “civilization” means. One critic “a tribute to the transforming power of drama.
Monday, 2 September 2013
The plays
The Frontline by Che Walker
13 by Mike Bartlett
Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
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