dislocation,
dislocation
How much do we feel for ourselves, and how much does society dictate what we call love? Suspect Culture’s new play, A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE, posits the question, and Steve Cramer asks a rising star of the theatre, Selina Boyack, and dramatist Renato Gabrielli for answers.
‘ o to your bosom. Knock there. and ask your heart what it doth know.’ In one ol' Shakespeare's least romantic
plays. .Ilt'usure/in' .Ilt'usm't'. in a distinctly ueg context. Isabella llc‘Vc‘l‘lIthCss gives us some advice which we ol‘ten oy'erlook when we speak ol' on'e. I’or so much ol our inner instinct is overruled in contemporary times by a socially constructed \‘c‘t‘sion oi one. in which material considerations take precedent. Any man beyond a certain age will attest to the uneasy moment which so often occurs early on in a dating process. where sometimes not-so-subtle inquiries are made about property and earning capacities. making one wonder if the girl opposite you is the one you saw last night. or her lather in drag. So. too women are pressured by an unattainable ideal ol‘ sell-image im‘oly‘ing bodies presented to them by maga/ines which offer l'atty' recipes and diets within a l'ew pages. as well as the idea that me without a baby renders them unnatural.
In a Western culture that so often condemns arranged marriage in its Asian population (l‘orced marriages are a different matter. and deserve condemnation) we often lind our marriages are arranged. not by the intimate consultative contact of our parents. but by the telly and its relentless obscene parade of consumer values. The Sex in the (try girls seldom consider a man without lirst making rel‘erence to his ley'el ol' property ownership. so presumably they too are constantly bombarded with interminable angst- creating TV programmes about the need to purchase property. decorate it expensiyely. then worry about the next step in the greed ladder.
If we spend the money that the telly demands. it‘s no wonder we can‘t go out so much. Instead. we stay at home and get more teley'isual instruction about l‘ormulating relationships from the rogue‘s gallery ol‘ hucksters who make up the agenda for our emotional me. a sell' perpetuating problem. Will men l‘orey‘er treat the plastic blondes of HM]. and women John Paul (ietty. as their ideals'.’ (‘ettainly the thriving consumption ethic. which in speed dating creates emotional fast food for people who dream t'ruitlessly ol' the al‘l‘luence constantly offered them by celebrity Iil'esty'le programmes. and internet dating. where anonymity substitutes for intimacy. seem to indicate an unpalatable answer.
As the first great spasm ol' knee-jerk
consumerism after Christmas. Valentine‘s Day.
22 THE LIST “ Fet‘ -fjc‘i‘