The Paula Principle

Month: July 2015

Early modern England: whose skills were applauded?

I've just read Keith Thomas' The Ends of Life: roads to fulfilment in early modern England,  about what people valued during the early modern period (that's 1530-1780, for those who like me need a definition).  KT provides a glorious stream of quotations on 6 areas where people might have sought fulfilment - wealth and possessions, fame and afterlife, honour and reputation, and so on. One of the areas is 'work and vocation', and this chapter provides nice  insights into the division of labour. "Some occupations were thought to be unmanly because they could equally well be performed by women: brewers, bakers, and cooks all suffered from this stigma."   I wouldn't…
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Theatrical chaos

Beautiful Chaos is the arresting title of a book by Carey Perloff, on her life and times as director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.   I have a partner with 30 years' experience as an actor but I have no professional understanding of the theatre; yet the book engrossed me with its insights into the dynamics of the world backstage.  (Declaration of interest:  Carey is a second cousin of mine, though we've never met.) Two themes in the book struck me particularly.  The first is the emphasis put on theatre as a vehicle for lifelong learning.  At a technical level Carey describes the changes she made to…
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Early modern England: whose skills were applauded?

I've just read Keith Thomas' The Ends of Life: roads to fulfilment in early modern England,  about what people valued during the early modern period (that's 1530-1780, for those who like me need a definition).  KT provides a glorious stream of quotations on 6 areas where people might have sought fulfilment - wealth and possessions, fame and afterlife, honour and reputation, and so on. One of the areas is 'work and vocation', and this chapter provides nice  insights into the division of labour. "Some occupations were thought to be unmanly because they could equally well be performed by women: brewers, bakers, and cooks all suffered from this stigma."   I wouldn't…
Read More

Theatrical chaos

Beautiful Chaos is the arresting title of a book by Carey Perloff, on her life and times as director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.   I have a partner with 30 years' experience as an actor but I have no professional understanding of the theatre; yet the book engrossed me with its insights into the dynamics of the world backstage.  (Declaration of interest:  Carey is a second cousin of mine, though we've never met.) Two themes in the book struck me particularly.  The first is the emphasis put on theatre as a vehicle for lifelong learning.  At a technical level Carey describes the changes she made to…
Read More