War Horse in Melbourne

I was lucky enough to see War Horse in Melbourne recently. I usually see something other than high-end and popular international theatre productions but prefer local independent theatre (which has an extraordinarily vibrant community in Melbourne). I only saw Warhorse because my mother was in town, and I was familiar with it as I worked opposite the National Theatre in Drury Lane, London (W1) (where it has been showing for several years). It was a spectacular show, and I am glad I went to see it. A local radio host told me I should take a hanky; sure enough, I needed it.

When I worked on Drury Lane, I could see the War Horse billboard out the window. And when the show started a few years back, the horses were paraded up the street. But there was a chasm there; it was only on the other side of the road, but it might as well have been on the other side of the planet. I worked in a technology centre, technology in the humanities. The opposite, the War Horse, stared at me in my Benthamite prison, enticing me to a place where technology had a more significant function than utility. This is always the natural home for technology in the humanities; sometimes, we must remember this.