A little bit of Culture

There are things (a few but they do exist) which interest me outside my research and work. That makes me sound like a workaholic. In reality, it is just that the PhD seems to suck any life out of other parts of my existence and come all encompassing. Well, this week I have seen a fair bit of both high and low culture (though putting values of high/low on culture tells me more about the value holder than the quality of the items viewed).

On Saturday I went to a good concert by the New London Singers and their Orchestra. From the opening anthem of ‘Zadok the Priest’ to the final notes of Music for the Royal Fireworks which was excellent. Very good summer music and a good prelude to the other summer tradition: the house student days when you talked into the early hours about everything from the stars above us to gardening, from difficult work colleagues to the latest holiday destinations. All good stuff and an evening which was relaxing as well as reminding me the variety of experiences which make up human life and culture.

I finally watched the final episodes of Dr. Who on Monday and Tuesday. Mixed feelings as you can see in my replies to this blog. It was a relief to talk to other members of the family yesterday and find it was not me that found it a little clever-clever for TV and there can be depth in programmes (look at some of Pinter’s TV dramas) without being so pretentious. I think rather than being able to work at multiple levels, many would have been lost or ostracised by it.

Wednesday came and after lectures I watched ‘Reunion’, a drama about a group of friends meeting up for the first time since leaving university 8 years previously. It’s five years almost exactly this week that I graduated from Warwick and two of my good friends are considering a reunion in September 2011 as it will be 10 years since we met. It summarised my feelings of having moved on from University but still being left with some ‘what if’ questions. It was aimed at those of us in our late 20s who feel very much part of that generation which has moved into adulthood and are now realising how formative those days of freedom at university were. See my earlier blog on Auberge Espagnole which reflects my feelings on that. It isn’t great drama but the gentle humour and makes me want to see it turned into a fool series, even if the official reviews were a little more mixed.

And, as you can tell, I do sometimes disagree with reviews, as was the case with the final bit of culture this week. ‘Holding the Man’ had its last night yesterday at the Trafalgar studios so my comments are a little late in the day. The play traced the story of a young gay couple from the school and universities in the 70s, through their rocky though loving relationship in the 80s leading to their death from AIDs in the early 90s. The Play’s semi-autobiographic, with the lead character telling his story from his perspective as half of the couple. Originally, the story was recorded in a book which came out a little after their death and was converted to a play in 2006. I was close to walking out of the first half as the jokes were either simplistically crude or overly repeated so lost their impact. At the start of the second half, starting in 1982, it was clear this was going to be an HIV story so it was slightly predictable. The play felt, for me, like it lacked any of the nuances and variations in gay politics and discussions which have come out over the last few years. I’ve discussed this with the friend I was seeing the play with. My feeling is that if weren’t for the stories told widely, like in the original book, then this narrative of tracking gay liberation in the 70s and 80s coupled with the heart-breaking losses and stories of AIDS, wouldn’t be so common and so understood. But the failure of the play is to keep this discussion moving forward and, as my friend pointed out, a play from 2006 could have a little more depth and insight into the current situation without losing the importance or power of the original tale. The author of the original book (aka the lead character in the play) was also a gay-activist and very much aware of the changes in gay politics in the 70s and 80s. He was involved in gay activism and HIV awareness so I think would have no problems with his working reflecting the current debates whilst still showing his original story.

You see, I can’t criticise the play too much as during the scenes tracking the gradual death of the first of the pair, I was saddened thinking of the loss of my Mother which I am witnerssing. There was something to empathise with – not the gay story line but the simple human story of losing someone he cared about. At the end when the ‘hero’ talks of sending his love into a black hole because his partner was no longer there to receive it, I knew what he meant.

And, whatever the faults of the play, it shared much in common with my cultural week the fundamental power of culture – high or low – to stimulate reflection and tap into the shared emotions of all humans. And that's why a little bit of culture is a good - and necessary - part of life.