literature
How faith, and America, can heal
The Trial of the Catonsville Nine is many things Australians dislike about Americans: political, patriotic and preachy. But unlike the worst of the United States, the play is also deeply questioning of its place in the world. It prosecutes American exceptionalism and the greyness of, and uneasiness between, faith and justice.
Life, art under Belarus’ iron rule
Real democracy never came to Belarus. When the USSR collapsed and the landlocked race declared sovereignty in 1990, its people were subjected to more Soviet-style uncompromising rule. It is the only dictatorship left in Europe, with a human rights record to match it would seem. The clampdown on civil society by the ‘elected government’ has, for many, been brutal. And yet a small theatre group risks prison and beatings to speak out.
If all you have are big ideas…
And in this fledgling blog dedicated to big (and small) ideas, the very antithesis to why they are important. Angels in America, a Broadway play-turned-Hollywood television mini-series, has had more affect on my than anything else I’ve seen on a screen of any size. Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning script, declared as one of the most important works of contemporary literature, is teeming with ideas. On everything: sex, religion, politics, justice and the so-called American Dream.
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