Russell Barr
Список книг автора Russell BarrA Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson
Out of Joint Presents: A Dish of Tea With Dr JohnsonIrritable, generous, seriously depressed yet a great wit: meet Samuel Johnson – poet, essayist and lexicographer. This evening of stories and conversation brings to life some of the most colourful figures of the eighteenth century. The host of characters bringing detail to this fascinating portrait includes biographer James Boswell, painter Joshua Reynolds, King George III, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s saviour Lady Flora MacDonald, and Mrs Thrale, the society hostess who was Johnson’s final, unrequited love.‘With A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson we return to the fascinating world of the great Dr Johnson. Until the middle of the 19th Century only the two patent houses, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, were permitted to present drama. So when Samuel Foote, Johnson’s contemporary, presented his evening of comic impersonations and vignettes it was billed as An Invitation to a Dish of Chocolate with Samuel Foote . From him we have purloined our title.’ – Max Stafford-Clark
The Ugly Spirit
Berlin. 1973.A soprano lies dead on a blanket.The human mind will not function when it is hot. Only when it is cool and dispassionate.If you are not careful you will no longer be human. If you are not careful you will become animals covered in sand. You are our descendants. You are very special.Some of you are to be precisely registered and preserved. You will become our most important historical monument.’Bessie and Jessie have been stuck in a bombed ballroom. They are also stuck together. There appears to be no escape. Bessie is happy to be stuck. Surely it is better than being alone? Jessie often went blue as a child.Jessie clutches the last unopened Christmas present.They are instructed by a voice, The Special Detachment, who only eats strawberries, and keeps the world in order.Bessie and Jessie have a model train set. The train is driven by a live rodent. The train has been moving for too many years.The train is about to fall off its tracks.