Essays on
Miscellaneous
by G.L. Horton
G.L. Horton's newest essays are now being posted on her stageblog.
Student
Directors
I want to foster my relationships with STUDENT directors. Teachers
must get tired of watching them trample the classics-- why not
let them mess about with me?...
Time
Frame for Historical Play
JB wrote: "I have written a play about a woman working
on a building site in Britain at the time of the miners' strike.
Twice I have been told that the 1980s is too recent to be 'history',
but not recent enough to be contemporary." GLH replies:
This is nonsense. However, the comment may mean that you have
more period detail in the play than you need...
What
ICWP Means to Me
ICWP is the Great Conversation I dreamed of when a child bookworm:
sensitivity and eloquence addressing the big questions, summed
up as "How ought we to live?" Love and work, courage
and kindness, the struggle to find a balance... I sometimes worry
that I neglect my dear friends...
In
Praise of Cheap Seats
I want to put in a Good Word for Cheap Seats [in London]. The
National has been running a successful '10 pound seats' season,
trying to lure young people and the working class back into the
theatre... The best seats from which to see the choreography and
hear the music--in the balconies--cost only a pound or so more
than a movie...
Publishing
online?
Some exceptions to the conventional wisdom that no one wants to
read novels online exists in the realm of fiction. Cory Doctorow,
author of the science fiction book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom...
Play
Contest Fees -- Just Plain Wrong!
Asking a playwright to contribute money to a contest that may
be biased against the playwright's themes, ethical positions,
policies etc is simply wrong...This posting has caused more writer-rage
than anything I've seen in a long time...
Adventures
in London
Here I am, catching up email in a London cybercafe. We're staying
in a cheap hotel with the WC way way down the hall and calorific
but bland and indigestable breakfast, cramming Culture all day...
Literary
Incest
I did some research on brother/sister incest for a play I wrote,
"Good Blood and High Standards".
Brother/sister incest is pretty common, at least in circumstances
where...
Egyptophiles
'Nother Egypt buff here! The Toledo Museum, where I spent most
of the weekends of my childhood, has a wonderful collection...
Chewing
Gum for the Eyes
You know the saying about lies, damned lies and statistics?...
Nobel
Prize and Best Reads
B writes "logically the best work of fiction should be
a work by one of the following named NPL winners," GLH
replies: Surely you exaggerate? ... Because I have read 26 works
by the listed authors, and I am not a particulary avid reader
of contemporary...
Gay-Themed
Material
A writer asks: "Is it okay to send gay-themed or gay-related
plays to theatres that don't list that as a criterion?" GLH
replies: Of course! The majority of the artistic staff at the
smaller theatres in the area where I live is gay...
Thinking
in Images
"We" don't all "Think in images". Most do, supposedly. Between
70-85%. The blind from birth do not, nor do I and between 15-30%
of the population. It doesn't seem to slow my thinking...
See also other G.L. Horton essays on . . . actors
& acting . . . criticism . . .
literature . . . miscellaneous
. . . modern plays . . .
political commentary . . . Shakespeare
. . . women's issues . . .
writing & directing & producing
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