Professor David Peimer
Satire and Subversion, Part 2: Make em Laugh
Summary
Professor David Peimer argues that satire is one of the most remarkable and profound qualities of the human imagination. He discusses what satire is, how it works, and why we need it. Throughout, he shows a variety of clips and examples, both well known and lesser known. Part 2 of 2.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
That’s a great question. That could go into a play, Alfred. Great line. If you can’t laugh it yourself, I don’t think you have a valid basis for being on the planet, to be honest from my point of view.
Now that’s a fascinating question, which I thought a lot about. How do you satire in the era of Covid? And I know lots of writers all over who are grappling with this exact question. And it’s essential because we will write satire whether a little bit later, maybe, perhaps not right now, but in a moment there will become satire on it. You know, there’s certainly satire on the Black Death, and many others, you know. On the Spanish Flu and others. It’s perhaps a little bit too close right now, but it will come.