If Gogol showed us corruption, and Beckett showed us despair, then Alfred Jarry — bizarre, bicycle-riding prophet of the avant-garde — showed us what happens when civilisation finally gives up pretending to be civil. Ubu Roi isn’t a play; it’s a cultural detonation, a theatrical act of vandalism so gleefully grotesque that even today it … Continue reading Ubu Roi: The Crown, the Curse, and the Colossal Belly of Human Folly
Tag: Writing
A Short Epitaph for Peter Whittle
Peter Whittle, founder of the New Culture Forum: 27 Nov. 2025 Peter Whittle walked through our cultural twilight like a man holding a lantern against the wind — stubborn, luminous, and unashamed. He believed that nations aren’t built merely by borders or ballots, but by the fragile things: memory, beauty, belonging, truth. And he fought … Continue reading A Short Epitaph for Peter Whittle
The Cry from the Cross
The question drifted across my day like an unexpected visitor — not hostile, not foolish, just curious: ‘If Jesus is God, then who was He talking to on the cross?’ It’s not the first time I’ve been asked it. In fact, it seems to surface every few months, usually in the same tone: part intrigue, … Continue reading The Cry from the Cross
The Government Inspector: A Farce in Which Humanity Trips Over Its Own Shadow
Been a while since I looked at a play. So.. There are moments in literature when I realise the human race isn’t merely flawed but gloriously, catastrophically absurd. Gogol understood this long before Beckett ever let Vladimir and Estragon wander out onto a dusty road to wait for a man who’d never come. If Waiting … Continue reading The Government Inspector: A Farce in Which Humanity Trips Over Its Own Shadow
The Christmas Stamp Scandal
Image: © Royal Mail. Used for commentary/critique. —or— How the Holy Family Became Too Brown for Britain There’s nothing more British than a Christmas stamp scandal. Every year, the nation that once ruled half the world now works itself into a moral froth over an adhesive square worth a pound twenty-five. It’s as though we … Continue reading The Christmas Stamp Scandal
Wording 