Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Foreign folly

<strong>Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons </strong><br /> <em>Soho</em> <strong>The Internationalist</strong><br /> <em>Gate</em> <strong>The Black and White Ball </strong><br /> <em>King’s Head</em>

issue 19 April 2008

Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons
Soho

The Internationalist
Gate

The Black and White Ball
King’s Head

You can tell when a culture has lost its way because it starts handing out awards. There’s a small club of annual prizes that have some legitimacy. Oscar, Bafta, Booker, Olivier, Nobel — all provide worthwhile verdicts on the disciplines they attach themselves to. But adding to their number cheapens the entire enterprise. Like prophets and fire drills, the more awards there are the more they get ignored. Little surprise, then, that the Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad has collected so many trophies that he has to scramble over heaped ramparts of silverware every time he leaves the house.

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