Thursday, February 16, 2006

Luvvie Of The Week - Dominic Cooke

All over Europe last week religiously-motivated people who hate homosexuals took to the streets to protest twelve cartoons and demand punishment for the artists and publishers.

From Stratford, Warwickshire, Royal Shakespeare Company Associate Director Dominic Cooke surveys the political landscape with a pessimistic eye.

Q. Why did you want to direct The Crucible?

A. I wanted to direct The Crucible because it seems, sadly, a play very much for our times. With Bush and Blair generating hysteria over terrorism and the frightening rise of Christian Fundamentalism in the US, there are real parallels between the world of Miller’s play and our own times.


"... our post 9/11 world is characterised by politicians, in the US especially, exploiting public fear to get away with destroying civil liberties and also blaming minorities, for example gay people, for corrupting American values. It seems society’s need to find scapegoats and go on witch-hunts hasn’t gone away. We live in very fearful times ..."

He'd still be blaming Bush while they're tightening the noose.

1 comment:

Blithering Bunny said...

>the frightening rise of Christian Fundamentalism in the US

Ah yes, I remember talking this way myself twenty years ago. That frightening rise sure is taking a long time to happen, isn't it?