Category Archives: Theology

NT’S CHICHESTER KING LEAR: A FATHER ABUSED, A FATHER RESCUED

  The recent discovery by University of Roehampton Shakespeare historian Glyn Parry that Shakespeare’s father, John, was driven into debt through betrayal by secret informers, may give insight into the playwright’s depiction of fathers in his plays. John Shakespeare, like Timon of Athens, had large debts and writs against him, including ones authorizing sheriffs to arrest […]

LITTLE THEATRE of VIRGINIA BEACH: YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU – THE HOSPITALITY OF GRANDPA

  “Foxy Grandpa”, “Money in the Bank”, “They Loved Each Other”, “The King is Naked”, and “Grandpa’s Other Snake” were all rejected as titles by playwrights George S. Kaufman and his young collaborator Moss Hart.[i] They finally settled on “You Can’t Take It with You.” The expression is very old, possibly dating from St. Paul’s […]

TOI’s HANSEL AND GRETEL: BEAUTIFUL AND FUN AND UNIVERSALLY TRUE

Why a fairy tale? A fairy tale explains the world to both youngsters and to adults, who may have forgotten important truths. As the fairy tale master Bruno Bettelheim explains, the fairy tale expresses in words and actions the things which go on in the child’s, or childlike adult, mind. Or as G.K. Chesterton rightly […]

LA SCALA’S GIOVANNA D’ARCO: When an Opera is a Lie

As of 2009, ten percent of Americans thought Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.[i] Since then most people probably won’t even guess as to her identity. And where could they learn of Joan of Arc? Schools, where any hint of Christianity is outlawed? In mainline churches, where scientific rationalism filters the majesty and mystery of […]

THE MET’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY: THE POWER OF UNIVERSALS

The most recent study names Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as the sixth most popular opera in the world. In fact, seeing the opera at the age of sixteen prompted Yoko Watanabe (1953-2004) to a singing career, eventually to the position of the most famous of Japanese opera singers, certainly to be one of the most acclaimed […]