Copyright
© BBC
© BBC
Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning, which opened at Playwrights Horizons in 2019, continued to work on me long after I’d emerged from the theatre into the megawatted midtown Manhattan night. The play’s world—much like the white, rightwing, Catholic, intellectual milieu of Arbery’s upbringing in Bush-era Dallas—wasn’t something I’d seen onstage before. We meet Arbery’s cast of five characters seven years out from an education of Plato and archery at an ultra-strict religious college. They hunger for passion, touch, reason, the pain and vitality of others, and for one another. They are characters to be reckoned with, if kept at a careful distance.
Arbery’s latest work, Corsicana, an excerpt of which appears in the Spring issue of The Paris Review, is a different kind of play, one that invites you in rather than takes you over. It is about gifts, the making of art, and, more poignantly, the sharing of it. Named for the town in Texas where the play is set, Corsicana opens in the home of Ginny, a woman in her midthirties with Down syndrome, and her slightly younger half brother, Christopher, who are grieving the recent death of their mother. Ginny has been feeling sad, depressed maybe, and Justice, a godmother figure to the siblings, introduces them to Lot, a musician and artist who uses discarded materials to create sculptures that he rarely shows anyone. Lot got a graduate degree in experimental mathematics, and, as he tells Christopher, succeeded in proving the existence of God, although he threw the proof away. “Art’s a better delivery system,” he says.
Arbery’s dialogue has an unnerving way of being at once caustically funny and prophetic; perhaps it’s no surprise that he is much in demand as a writer for television and film. Earlier this month, I called him in London, where he was working as a consultant on season four of Succession, a series that I, from my sofa in Brooklyn, was struggling, without much success, to resist rewatching.
© BBC
We've just about recovered from Villarreal's disgraceful showing to get in for another Euro Ramble round-up. Imagine coming to Anfield and trying to keep it tight! PATHETIC.
Kate, Andy and Luke also look into Antonio Rudiger's confirmed departure from Chelsea, while Roy Keane casts admiring glances north of the border. There's also the small matter of the biggest game in West Ham's modern history and more Missouri brawls!
Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here:
***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
© BBC
© BBC
Man City’s clash with Real Madrid had it all: incredible goals, terrible defending, an outrageous panenka and multiple Pep meltdowns. Bring on next week!
Marcus, Jim and Pete relive it all and wonder who will take the spoils in Madrid. Elsewhere last night, Nottingham Forest set up a tasty shootout with Bournemouth in the Championship and Paul Pogba's only gone and left the Manchester United WhatsApp group. Plus, something about Fizzer and Sven before Marcus loses his mind.
Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here:
***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
© BBC