What book I’m reading: Backwards and Forwards By David Ball. It calls itself a technical manual for reading plays. It takes a very focused view of drama as being an art of action. The author suggests that the key to unlocking how plays work is to focus on what the characters do and what they say to get what they want. It creates a set of vocabulary that seems useful to describe other parts of plays and their function. For example stasis, intrusion, obstacle, conflict are all clearly defined and used to break down classic modern play scripts.
What play I’m reading: Ghosts by Heinrik Ibsen. To try out the ideas in Backwards and Forwards, I’m going to read some old plays. This week I found a used text book of modern plays at an English bookstore. The first play in the book is Ghosts. I honestly didn’t remember much from the first time I read this play as a student. I enjoyed reading it this time. The character of Oswald reminds me of Edmund from Long Day’s Journey Into Night. I like Ibsen’s side burns (see below).
What I’m playing: My family was visiting for the holidays and almost every night we played either Jenga or Wsiąść Do Pociągu (Ticket to Ride). While we were visiting Krakow I found a very cool new place – Pinball Arcade Museum. Check them on Facebook at: Krakow Pinball Museum – Interaktywne Muzeum Flipperów.
fWhat I’m listening to: Moon Shaped Pool by Radio Head.
What movie I watched: Harold and Maude directed by Hal Ashby. Maude: “Everybody should be able to make some music. That’s the cosmic dance.”
