Past Time Butterflies

Featured Poem

One of the issues which much concerns me, as it does many artists, is a pressure to look at past works and edit them in the light of present day thinking.  There is no doubt that views on morality, appropriateness, offence have changed in recent years.  But take almost any period in time and there will always be that movement in views.

The idea of re-editing words and phrases of well-established works is, to me and others, the wrong deed for the (possibly) right reason (to mis-quote TS Eliot).  To change the odd word or two here and there seems innocent enough, but where does this top?  Shakespeare’s merchant of Venice is explicitly antisemitic, would have pleased his audiences, but should we stop doing this play?  Taming of the Shrew supports violence against women, might have pleased WS’s audiences, but there is evidence that he was already behind the times with his views.  I have directed Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw in the 70s, but there are jokes in it that would certainly make me uncomfortable today; would I change it if I directed it now?  probably not.

These works and others reflect the times in which they were created.  We cannot change those times; we have no choice but to accommodate them.  And so, too, should we accommodate those art works.

The featured poem this month, Past Time Butterflies attempts to work through the tensions this creates within me.  As well as the pictures I try to create, the debate is, I hope, reinforced my interchanging of past and present tenses.

Then there is the final image wrapped around the butterflies.  A reader may find this confusing, but I leave readers to work through it and come to their own conclusions.

Reading

I have been reading David Crystal’s Rediscovering Grammar.  And now back to Peter James; I’m reading some of his novels that explore alternative ideas of human minds, such as precognition, possession, spiritualism and so on.  Interesting thoughts.  Brilliant yarns.

Current Work

Personal circumstances in the past month have meant a pause in my work; back in the reins now.  Working still with Tom on the protagonist’s main song in Magpie.  So hard to get it right but we are making progress.  Organising actors and dates for working on General Guidance and presenting the Magpie songs.  Making progress on this too.