let's try to be kind...

Photo by Maria Thalassinou on Unsplash

Hello, my dears. This is the Backstage Pass piece I meant to publish towards the end of last week….

…but I got backtracked by a sudden impulse to write to Graham Linehan instead.

So apologies for the late arrival.

The Linehan post was a kind of experiment in seeing if it's possible to respond to the cruelty of a deeply damaged man's communications with kindness.

I'm proud of what I wrote, and have learnt a lot from the responses.

It's a pity that some transphobic feminists responded with such rudeness.

In the extreme misogyny of the current climate, everyone has been so badly hurt, both trans and cis women alike.

And it seems almost impossible for us not to trigger each other's trauma.

The worst thing we can do in response, I think, is start hurling insults at each other.

It's just so important we try to pause and respect each others’ hurt and distress.

And learn to treat each other with empathy and with kindness.

And maybe that's what these reflections about my bell-ringing piece are also about….

The old cliché says that drama is about conflict. And so drama tends to be about hurt and distress.

I really don't agree.

I think drama is about the search for healing and for resolution…

And if I was feeling pompous, perhaps I would entitle my thoughts, "Towards An Aesthetic of Kindness."