A play entitled The Death of Margaret Thatcher has hit the London stage, speculating about the impact of the former prime minister's passing.
Conservative titan Thatcher, 82, prime minister from 1979 to 1990 and Britain's only female prime minister, radically changed the nation during her 11 years in power, transforming the woeful economy into a powerhouse.
Playwright Tom Green's show examines why Thatcher remains a controversial figure in Britain.
PHOTO: AP
Green said he was inspired to write the play after Thatcher was invited to tea by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last September. She is hardly a popular figure in Brown's governing Labour Party.
The playwright contrasted her political rehabilitation with the public promises to celebrate her death made by some left-wing figures.
"I am 37, so definitely one of Thatcher's children," he said.
"Unless you were one of her fans, she was a monster, and yet that seems to have changed. The strength of feeling about her is part of Thatcher's iconic status.
"It will be interesting, when she does die, to see what society makes of it. But this is not an essay or a polemic. I would not even characterize it as anti-Thatcher."
The play features, among other characters, a miner who vows to walk from the north of England to spit on Thatcher's grave, and a newsreader who sees the chance to announce her death as a career break.
The play's producer June Abbot said: "We were worried about the title at first, but this puts Baroness Thatcher's death on a par with events such as the death of John F. Kennedy or Princess Diana. She provokes such emotion.
"It is about how people are affected by her death in different ways. None of them talk about whether they were for her or against her."(AP)
一齣名為「柴契爾夫人之死(暫譯)」的音樂劇在英國倫敦上演了,這齣劇碼推測了英國前首相柴契爾夫人去世後將帶來的影響。
英國保守黨鐵娘子柴契爾夫人,現年八十二歲,一九七九至一九九○年間出任英國首相,也是英國唯一的女性首相,其在位十一年間,徹底地將當時經濟萎靡的英國轉變成經濟強國。
劇作家湯姆.格林的作品檢視了柴契爾夫人在英國備受爭議的原因。
格林說,去年九月英國首相戈登.布朗邀請柴契爾夫人喝下午茶後,引起了他寫這齣劇的動機。柴契爾夫人在布朗帶領的工黨中其實是很不受歡迎的人物。
這位劇作家將柴契爾夫人的政治生涯復甦和左翼份子公開承諾要慶祝她的死亡做對比。
「我今年三十七歲,足以當她的兒子,」他說。
「除了支持者以外,在其他人眼中她是位殘忍的領導者,不過情況似乎已經改變了。對柴契爾夫人的那種情感上的力量,是造就她象徵地位的因素之一。」
「當柴契爾夫人真的過世時,了解社會大眾如何看待它將會很有趣,但是這齣劇既不是論述文也不是一場辯論,我甚至不會將它視為是一部反柴契爾夫人的作品。」
劇中角色包括一名發誓要從英國北方一路走到柴契爾夫人墓前吐口水的礦工,和一位將播報柴契爾夫人過世消息視為事業轉捩點的新聞主播。
製作人茱恩.亞伯特說:「我們一開始很擔心這齣劇的名稱,不過這也表示柴契爾女爵的過世和美國總統約翰.甘迺迪或黛安娜王妃去世的事件一樣,足以激起大眾的情緒。」
「這齣劇是關於柴契爾夫人之死對民眾的各種影響,並沒有討論支持或反對她的立場。」(美聯社/翻譯:楊鴻泰)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of