Category: Classics

How far should we go when depicting violence?

4 March 2016

London audiences have been horrified by the violence shown on stage in the National Theatre’s production of Sarah Kane’s play Cleansed. The National’s own website rather euphemistically describes the production as “unflinching”, but media reports have dwelt on the gory action in more detail. The play involves electrocution, incest, forced sex-reassignment surgery, and in a […]

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From Achilles to Hilary Benn: what Homer might have thought of the Syria air strikes debate

4 December 2015

When David Cameron, the UK prime minister, stood up to speak before colleagues in the British parliament on Wednesday to argue in favour of air strikes on Syria, he was initiating a political activity – debate – that’s familiar to all democratic societies. He was also stepping into a role that stretches all the way […]

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