Theatre
Net gains
Steve Cramer talks romance and technology with first-time Traverse author Jules Horne, and finds the internet a more morally complex place than you’d expect.
e lace harder work and longer hours in the workplace these days than has existed for two generations. so you might wish to
reflect upon how you use your leisure time. Much of
the time. so arduous are our shifts that one has little energy lcl‘t l‘or socialising. and the comfort of home always looks appealing alter a long day. Meet l‘riends down the pub‘.’ Yoti can‘t smoke. (io to a gig'.’ Well. that'll be a late linish bel'ore a hard morning. (it) to the theatre'.’ I hope you do. bttt it is expensive . . . So we finish up at home. in our atomised box. sealed from the neighbours. and in some cases from all human contact. Yet some form of intimacy with other human beings is water on the soil of our souls. so we seek it out. often these days through the internet. But in this surrogation ol‘ intimacy l'or \‘il'lllttiily we might losc out.
So it might seem for .-\my'. the central character in (ioigmus .‘il‘tlltll'. the debut play of .lules Home at the 'l‘ray'crse. She has defined a comfortable We in her small town Borders home. to which ey‘erything is deliy‘ered Via the internet. liy'en low. it seems. l‘or she's been engaging in a long distance relationship with a man in the ['SA. The news that he is shortly to arriye tor a first time \‘is‘ii ptits Amy’s world into a panic.
.-\ comedy. then. with a rather solemn subtext about our use and abuse of the internet. Yet as the thirtysomcthing Horne. a product of the 'l‘ray'crse writers‘ workshop sits before me. she explains a more
comple\ position than the simple condemnation of‘
new technology. ‘What is the difference between the
86 THE LIST At"—“ Ma. £3011
INTIMACY WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS IS WATER
ON THE SOIL OF OUR SOULS
creation of the internet and the adycnt ol' the railways" I don't know it there is a real dil‘l‘crencc.‘ she says. "There are always people who resist these things. but is there anything inherently good or bad about it'.’ I don‘t think so. There are lots oi hellish things about the internet. htit is it all like that‘.’ In the borders. it‘s helped a lot ol‘ writers to come together w ho otherw ise wouldn‘t hay'e been able to share their work.‘
It's a good point. and as I look at Home. who looks back oy‘er spectacles framed by her longish brown hair. I'm struck by an olwiotis intelligence at work. She leans l'orward oy'cr our table at a pub adjacent to the Tray‘ersc‘s rehearsal rooms tlhoy'c l.cith's Raj restaurant and emphasises this. placing her play in a historical context that shows more precedents than you might think. "What‘s the relationship between y'irtuality' and real lil‘e'.’ That’s a question I Used as a starting point.‘ she says. '\\'hat I‘m y‘ery' interested in is how liar is \‘irtuality' from the notion of ('y'rano de Bergerac? He's allowed Rosanne to hold a mental picture that is created entirely by his letters and words. How dil‘l‘erent is that from the internet'.’ How far is Madam Boy‘ary. liying in a world ol noy'els. from the internet today"? We make a sharp distinction between these stories and the way we use the internet. btit are they so different."
So there‘s no shortage of brain food in what Horne somewhat reluctantly. as a romantic comedy. You‘ll need to go along to find out whether our girl nets her man.
ticscl‘ihc‘s.
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 5 - Sat 20 May.
Hit
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