The Difference Between Boring and Dull
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/apr/20/mark-ravenhill-slow-theatre
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"There is very little that playwrights, film directors, fiction editors and journalists agree on. But on one subject there does seem to be an almost universal consensus, and that is that you - the reader, the listener - are bored, most of the time.
And so we throw spectacle at you, make sure there are three laughs on every page, grip you with the power of 'what happens next?', do what we can to shock you with graphic sex and violence. From the worthiest of new-writing theatres to the brashest of musicals, from the Booker shortlist to the BBC newsroom, the assumption is the same - that you out there are very easily distracted. Maybe we should blame the invention of the TV remote control: people often do. At some point around 30 years ago, it became possible to hop aimlessly between channels.
But why has this requirement to grab, grip, deliver a punch (the language is nearly always that of physical violence) infected nearly every other medium? After all, you've already chosen to buy that novel, or theatre ticket; the chances are you're going to stick at it even if the story moves slowly, if it rambles or pauses to digress. But more and more, it seems, we treat every audience as though they carry a phantom remote control. We are terrified of losing them."
And so we throw spectacle at you, make sure there are three laughs on every page, grip you with the power of 'what happens next?', do what we can to shock you with graphic sex and violence. From the worthiest of new-writing theatres to the brashest of musicals, from the Booker shortlist to the BBC newsroom, the assumption is the same - that you out there are very easily distracted. Maybe we should blame the invention of the TV remote control: people often do. At some point around 30 years ago, it became possible to hop aimlessly between channels.
But why has this requirement to grab, grip, deliver a punch (the language is nearly always that of physical violence) infected nearly every other medium? After all, you've already chosen to buy that novel, or theatre ticket; the chances are you're going to stick at it even if the story moves slowly, if it rambles or pauses to digress. But more and more, it seems, we treat every audience as though they carry a phantom remote control. We are terrified of losing them."
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- groups:
- Entertainment, Culture, Art and Style
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- tags:
- Entertainment, Culture, Art and Style, TV, 7 more
