Arts & Culture
Originally published on Monday, 30th June 2008
What was I saying?
Attention spans are - pay attention! - attention spans are shrinking faster than ever. Apparently we spend less than a minute on a single web page wherever possible, and even then prefer to scan, taking in only about 20% of written material.
So in this paragraph you probably only got attention, shrinking, scan, 20% and probably. Cheers guys.
Not that I can blame you. I haven't finished a novel in months, my bathroom is a cacophony of tester paint pots, and my TV remote buttons shrink from my fingers like frightened sea anemones.
So whilst the Harry Potter opus never really wiggled my wand, Potted Potter was the perfect way to catch up on the fad without revealing my quidditchnorance. As a former English lit student, my Shakespearean knowledge was embarrassing until the Reduced Shakespeare Company came along, and if I'm honest, when Starwars and all its homoerotic saber-wielding was condensed into 20 minutes, I was pathetically grateful.
Now, to further our education in our ADD era, Dickens Unplugged is at the Comedy Theatre, combining the man's own life and times with super speedy synopses of his works, all expounded through addictively hysterical lyrics and light-speed skits.
Did you make it all the way down here?
Dickens Unplugged - Comedy Theatre, Panton St, SW1Y 4DN £16-£46
Potted Potter
Reduced Shakespeare Company