Comments on Encore Theatre Magazine: Billington's Blair

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2007-01-25T20:36:00.000Z

But are there positive, heroic representations of ...

2007-01-11T14:49:00.000Z

But are there positive, heroic representations of US presidents in American theatre (as opposed to film and TV)?

And going back to the point about British representations of monarchs compared to prime ministers, does royalty still capture the British imagination more than party politics? Though, having said that, Peter Morgan's done a rather fine job at representating both Tony and Liz.

That may be because we don't always agree between ...

2007-01-11T12:28:00.000Z

That may be because we don't always agree between ourselves, which is relatively healthy. Some of us thought Stuff Happens was a very dull way of talking about politics (40 blokes in identical grey suits). Some thought it was a very exciting event and - let's face it - those audience were among the largest gatherings of those (largely) opposed to the invasion of Iraq since the march of 15 February 2003.

I agree with Steve's point above. Why individualise this story so much? How genuinely illuminating is it to treat Blair's escapade as the downfall of a great man, or his undoing by some tragic flaw. Do we need catharsis in this situation? The tragedy is not in Blair's likely drubbing at the hands of history, it is ongoing right across the Middle East.

It's interesting to reflect on Simon's question about representations of Prime Ministers. Hollywood produced the movie Air Force One in which terrorists hijack the President's plane and, through a mixture of skill, cunning, and a physical prowess he defeats them. It's pretty well impossible to imagine pitching the same film about a British prime minister. Is this because they're comfortable about heroism in a way that we're not? They have The West Wing which is broadly heroic and we have The Thick of It. They have The American President, we have Love, Actually. This may underlie Billington's question about the buffoonery that characterises all representations of Blair. What very positive representations of Prime Ministers have there been since the war? Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play was risible wasn't it? ('Those poor sailors...')

Interestingly (and this relates to a point Paul Mi...

2007-01-11T11:20:00.000Z

Interestingly (and this relates to a point Paul Miller has made on his blog) Encore were rather positive about Stuff Happens when it first came out but were scathing about it in the recent piece on Amy's View.

Representing what happened as a tragedy individual...

2007-01-10T17:38:00.000Z

Representing what happened as a tragedy individualises the issue as if it's all about his mental fight and his loss of reputation, which frankly doesn't seem all that significant compared to the Iraqi civilian death toll so far.

Isn't Encore's point that you get a better understanding of what's happened by not making Blair at the centre of it. Which is quite literalist of them of course, and did you guys like Stuff Happens? That certainly put Tony Blair way off-centre.

I expect he meant it in the ancient Greek sense: a...

2007-01-10T16:57:00.000Z

I expect he meant it in the ancient Greek sense: a great man who is the progenitor of his own downfall, which is how I meant it too.

Interesting point, Brace, but why does what you sa...

2007-01-10T14:18:00.000Z

Interesting point, Brace, but why does what you say amount to saying that Blair's story has the form of a 'tragedy'. Yeah maybe in the loose everyday use of the term (where every child's death is a tragedy) but that's not what Billington meant is it?

Here's a question: Has there ever been a dramatica...

2007-01-10T10:34:00.000Z

Here's a question: Has there ever been a dramatically rounded and convincing portrayal of a prime minister in a play? I can think of plenty of tremendously engaging and moving kings, but that's not the same thing! Churchill in Hochhuth's 'Soldiers' is the most convincing as a man and as a bearer of enormous power that I can think of - off the top of my head - with the Prime Minister in Granville Barker's 'Waste' being the most interesting ficticious one.

And if you have read all the Iraq books that it so...

2007-01-10T08:41:00.000Z

And if you have read all the Iraq books that it sounds like you have, then you’ll know the governments and major industries of both Russia and France had millions of dollars invested in Iraq and thus their own good reasons not to invade. Ascribing perspicacity and noble motives to all the UN in this matter is silly. Sillier than Billington is in his piece.

By the sound of it, from Front Row at least, the C...

2007-01-10T08:32:00.000Z

By the sound of it, from Front Row at least, the C4 play is along the lines of the tragic approach to Blair that you urge us to ‘resist’.

I for one am glad. It’s a great narrative, one I don’t feel necessitates me buying into ‘a UK foreign office view of the world’ to appreciate. Here is a fantastically able politician and a devout, decent man who has made a massive mistake. The really important thing is that the ramifications of that mistake, the thousands of deaths and the millions of people who think less of this country internationally, cannot be skirted over. They must take centre-stage.

I can’t speak for Billington, (you do spend a lot of time on his back, has he slagged you off in the past?) but could the ‘wrong deed’ be taking us into a war on the basis of false information, for the ‘in his eyes, right reason’ of humanitarian intervention? This is the case as made by the ‘Liberal Neo-con’ journalists who are thought to share Blair’s thinking on this – guys like Hitchens, Aaronovitch and Hari, a representative of whom found their way into ‘Stuff Happens’.

As TB’s tenure has come to an end there’s inevitably a lot of talk about his legacy and his achievements. What stands out is how, were it not for this war, he might’ve been thought of as one of the two or three great post war Prime Ministers.

I can’t help thinking how ripe that is for the tragedy treatment.