Monday 14 March 2011

Nearly there

I'm nearly there. Mark Smeaton has been arrested and George is about to go out to lead the Challengers at the May Day joust. It's starting to feel quite intense and a bit disturbing. How about this. Eric Ives says "in history evidence matters, not invention." Of course it's all about evidence, but without using our imaginations history is meaningless. What do you think?

2 comments:

  1. Jo I couldnt agree more! We create a thing called reality, both past and present in our collective imaginations and brilliant people like you write the script.

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  2. We could get into a long debate about what is "reality" but the established facts is reality, the dramatist spins these into entertainment. Historical plays have a resonance and great interest to us which means it will sell. In other words the historical play is less of a risk to invest in than a work of pure fiction as good returns are more likely. The fiction, in the case of history plays, is restricted to fleshing out the facts in the form of dialogue etc. History plays are good for propaganda purposes as well. Think of Olivier and King Henry V produced during WWII.

    It's been going on since the Greeks but if I wanted to know history I would read a history book but if I wanted to be entertained I would watch a history play/film.

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