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The Crucible at the New Alex Theatre – Powerful and Brilliant
The 1950s were strange times in America. The Second World War was over, but a Cold War emerged, and with it an aura of paranoia and hysteria that saw the country turning on itself, trying to weed out anyone who was a Communist, and therefore, un-American. Senator Joe McCarthy started his witch-hunts, which saw innocent people jailed, destroyed, their lives ruined by (often) false accusations, with people encouraged to name names. It was against this backdrop that America’s celebrated playwright Arthur Miller wrote his masterpiece ‘The Crucible’. a savage indictment of the modern day witch hunts played out through the Salem Witch hunts of the 17th Century. Last night, the…
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Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold
Maybe it was because she was a woman, but Eve Arnold never felt the need to over sexualise Marilyn Monroe like some of the studio photographers did. In her photographs, many taken on the set of The Misfits, Marilyn is an earthy presence, beautiful and natural, a captivating woman with undeniable vulnerability. I first became a fan of Eve’s work in my late teens. A huge fan of Marilyn since childhood, the name Marilyn Monroe evoked images of a glorious goddess in gold lame, or standing over a subway vent as her skirt lifted around her head, a fantasy figure who was somewhat over-worldly. Then I discovered that an exhibition…
