The city and the country – 9 – July 19 2014

A darker day. (But the pool is clear! Not clean – though getting there with the help of a new ‘pool shark’ automatic cleaner – but clear, after further anti-phosphate blitzkrieg.) Darker weather; and sadly we made the decision to postpone the upcoming late-summer premiere of my play about the Emperor Nero – in it he acquires a movie camera and sets about filming his life and crimes, using his entourage and a screenplay by Seneca the Younger – because we’ve lost the services of our wonderful stage manager, Athena, who is having a much-needed hip operation. She is and was our rock, and a demanding show with 20 actors in it isn’t something we want to tackle without her. But soon, hopefully; before too long.

Meanwhile I have another premiere, of my play about Beethoven, in 12 days’ time, at the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice. This features a Beethoven piano virtuoso, Justin Kolb, playing Beethoven the man and – at the piano – the pianist, plus myself as his doctor. The piece was sparked when Justin lent me a book about Beethoven’s (many) ailments. This kind of thing is irresistible, as if one were to discover that Socrates was obsessed with fishing. Lost Socratic dialogues (‘The One That Got Away’) spring helplessly to mind, along with skeptical pupils questioning Socrates’ claims, and Socrates questioning the nature of reality, using fishermen’s tales. Similarly, Beethoven as hypochondriac. Genius seen from a new angle is too delicious. And it happens, as the clinching inspiration, that Justin – in a wig – looks exactly like Beethoven….