Michael Davis' thoughts on theatre and the Arts.
Occam s razor: all things being equal, the correct answer is the simplest. It s a maxim that s used in all walks of life, but utilised especially in medical diagnoses. And while TV programmes like House M.D. show diagnostic teams actively looking for zebras (rare medical conditions that have result in multi-organ failure), in real life many [ ]
For much of the 20th and 21st century (to date), the opportunity to go back in time and undo the mistakes of one s life has been a favourite topic of stage and screen. With such a concept, there tonally lies a myriad of possibilities – from a deadly earnest approach to an out-and-out comedy, and [ ]
The saying still waters run deep can aptly be used to describe Lita Doolan s audio play The Shape Of Things Undone. Beneath its quiet, understated simplicity lies a profound meditation on having dementia, the emotional toll caring for such people round the clock, as well as the systemic underappreciation of those working on the front [ ]
Stagehand. Actor. Lyricist. Looking at the experiences of Eden Phillips, he could be said to be the Forest Gump of the theatrical world – a tangential observer to the Great and the Good in British theatre. As a living encyclopedia of the West End and beyond, Phillips has seen all facets of the business and [ ]
It is an old maxim of mine that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Any narrative ‘worth its salt – regardless of how fantastical its premise – should have a subtext that illuminates [ ]
An argument can be made for proposing Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen as the world’s most influential playwright (after Shakespeare). Certainly, as a contemporary of Freud, Jung and the nascent science of psychology, Ibsen was one of the first to utilise this dimension of human nature in the writing process. Author David Irvin has recently written [ ]
While there are a number of plays that deal with the aftermath of losing one s paterfamilias such as Florian Zeller s The Father and David Auburn s Proof, they obviously lean into the gravitas of the subject matter. However, if there s one area that British and Irish playwrights have historically shown a knack for, it s black comedies – [ ]
Many, many years ago, before I began writing about theatre and the Arts, I was on the other side of fence – performing in and directing different types of theatre. One such occasion was performing at Feltham Prison in (Greater) London for the custodial staff there, showing the benefits of forum theatre, which can be [ ]
Ciarán Bourke, Luke Kelly, John Sheahan, Barney McKenna, Ronnie Drew. Anyone who is aware of Irish folk music over the past 50+ years will know these names point to The Dubliners – who paved the way for the global appreciation of Irish folk artists the following decades. Created and directed by Dublin-born Ged Graham, Seven [ ]
“History doesn t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”– so said American writer, humorist and essayist Mark Twain. Within the sphere of psychiatry, patterns of behaviour are sometimes said to pass down to family members, albeit in a mutated form. And so it is that these ideas surface in Julia Pagett s Stitch In Time – raised repeatedly [ ]