To the International Theatre Forum today, for a fascinating debate. The chair was Sir Arnold Wesker, author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, and considered one of the key figures in 20th Century drama.
Introduced to the great man, I said the inevitable: “I studied your plays at school!†then immediately cringed… How many times must the poor guy hear that? And, no kidding, he looks so youthful! Anyway, he said some pretty fascinating things:
“Don’t trust theatre folk… they have the power to make you feel strongly… about nothing at all.â€
Who was that speaking, I wonder? The angry young man? Or the world-savvy cynic? I’d love to know.
And then, something even more insightful. A question from the audience: “What makes writers write?†Referring to a character in one of his plays, he gave the best answer I’ve yet heard:
“I write because I want to affect people the way other writers affected me with their writingâ€.
That’s as good a reason as any.
