skip to main |
skip to sidebar
London Still is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
First Prologue
They brought a woman
from the street
And made her
sit in the stalls
By threats
By bribes
By flattery
Obliging her to share
a little of her life
with actors
But I don't understand art
Sit still, they said
But I don't want to see sad things
Sit still, they said
And she listened to everything
Understanding some things
But not others
Laughing rarely,
and always without knowing why
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again, said
If that's art I think it is hard work
It was beyond me
So much beyond my actual life
But something troubled her
Something gnawed her peace
And she came a second time, armoured with friends
Sit still, she said
And again,
she listened to everything
This time
understanding different things
This time
untroubled that some things
Could not be understood
Laughing rarely
but now without shame
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again said
This is art,
it is hard work
And one friend said,
too hard for me
And the other said,
if you will
I will come again
Because I found it hard
I felt honoured
-- Howard Barker,
from The Bite of the Night
from the street
And made her
sit in the stalls
By threats
By bribes
By flattery
Obliging her to share
a little of her life
with actors
But I don't understand art
Sit still, they said
But I don't want to see sad things
Sit still, they said
And she listened to everything
Understanding some things
But not others
Laughing rarely,
and always without knowing why
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again, said
If that's art I think it is hard work
It was beyond me
So much beyond my actual life
But something troubled her
Something gnawed her peace
And she came a second time, armoured with friends
Sit still, she said
And again,
she listened to everything
This time
understanding different things
This time
untroubled that some things
Could not be understood
Laughing rarely
but now without shame
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again said
This is art,
it is hard work
And one friend said,
too hard for me
And the other said,
if you will
I will come again
Because I found it hard
I felt honoured
-- Howard Barker,
from The Bite of the Night
London Still is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
©Alexandra Silber. Powered by Blogger.
- London Still
- Actor / Singer, Writer
- A collection of musings from a life in art...
Search This Blog
Blog Archive
Posts
Labels
- #LoveList (4)
- 1 Party Per Month Plan (3)
- Acting (90)
- Adam Cooper (5)
- Adulting (7)
- After Anatevka (26)
- Al's Greatest Hits (11)
- Alec (21)
- America (21)
- Angela Lansbury (7)
- Antigone (6)
- Arielle (13)
- Arlington (8)
- Art (32)
- Ask Al (72)
- Auditioning (14)
- Autumn (17)
- Behind the Scenes (28)
- Birthday (12)
- Book Tour (13)
- Books (45)
- Broadway (99)
- Cabaret (6)
- Camelot (6)
- Capturing the Zeitgeist (5)
- Carousel (26)
- Cheyenne Jackson (8)
- Christmas (8)
- Condensed Film Scripts (4)
- Coulda-been-ku (20)
- COVID19 (47)
- Creativity (27)
- Crime Drama (12)
- Dad (35)
- Dance (5)
- DC (19)
- Detroit (20)
- Directing (2)
- Domestic Happenings (15)
- Dutch Kills (6)
- Elizabeth Stanley (10)
- Etymology (3)
- Excerpts (16)
- Family (37)
- Favourites (18)
- Fiddler on the Roof (61)
- Food (22)
- Friends (159)
- Glasgow (18)
- Gratitudes (8)
- Health (23)
- Hello Again (18)
- I like to make lists (110)
- I like to share (19)
- I've Been (25)
- In My Life (56)
- Indecent (9)
- Inspiration (137)
- Integrity (10)
- Interlochen (36)
- Interviews (6)
- Italo Calvino (6)
- Journal (4)
- Judaism (36)
- Katie Spelman (4)
- Ken Ludwig (1)
- Kennedy Center (11)
- Kent (20)
- Kiss Me Kate (3)
- Kit (27)
- LA (17)
- Lady Chu (7)
- Leonard Bernstein (8)
- Lilly (12)
- London (88)
- Love Story (11)
- MamaSilbs (26)
- Master Class (28)
- Memoir (22)
- Michael John LaChiusa (9)
- Michael Tilson Thomas (7)
- Michigan (42)
- Moscow (11)
- Movies (8)
- Music (70)
- Musical Theatre (94)
- New York (117)
- Nick Bantock (8)
- Obsessions (4)
- Off Broadway (11)
- Opera (14)
- Our Class (5)
- Owls (3)
- Philadelphia (2)
- Photography (40)
- Playbill (6)
- Poetry (96)
- Politics (18)
- Portrait of a Friend (8)
- Rabbi Syme (1)
- Rebecca Luker (3)
- Reflections (21)
- RSAMD (12)
- Russia (28)
- Ruthie Henshall (8)
- San Francisco (14)
- Santino Fontana (11)
- Scotland (5)
- Self Portrait (5)
- Shakespeare (8)
- She Loves Me (7)
- Sheffield (3)
- Sheldon Harnick (13)
- Showmance (5)
- Sierra Boggess (21)
- Simon Callow (4)
- Singing (52)
- Soapbox (14)
- Song of Norway (3)
- Spring (12)
- Stephen Wadsworth (10)
- Summer (18)
- Tatiana (my cat) (17)
- Teaching (33)
- Television (17)
- Terrence McNally (20)
- The Adventures of Sophie and Sharon (10)
- The Great Depression (4)
- The Music Man (8)
- The Russia Diaries (14)
- The Woman in White (13)
- Theatre (213)
- TodayTix (1)
- Training (9)
- Transport Group (12)
- Travel (36)
- Tyne Daly (20)
- Vadim (10)
- West End (46)
- West Side Story (10)
- What About Bob? (3)
- White Hot Grief Parade (10)
- Winter (24)
- Women (2)
- Workshopping (6)
- Writing (125)
©Nick Bantock
No comments:
Post a Comment