Specialist hedgehog or wide-ranging fox? In an extract from his new book, the late playwright Stephen Jeffreys identifies two kinds of thinkers – and one writer who defies definition Just as people outside the theatre ask actors, “How do you remember the words?” so do they enquire of writers, “Where do your ideas come from?” In both cases, the truthful answer is: “That’s the easy part.” For a professional playwright, having ideas for plays is something that happens on a daily basis. Reading a newspaper, listening to a friend’s holiday anecdotes, glimpsing a curious image of, say, two people and a bag of firewood – anything can set you off. But as Robert McKee says, “Having an idea is like whistling a tune on the steps of Carnegie Hall. The hard part is getting the orchestra to play it inside.” Isaiah Berlin, quoting the ancient Greek poet Archilochus, suggests that there are two kinds of writers and thinkers: foxes and hedgehogs. While the fox knows many things and forages across a range of experiences, the hedgehog concentrates its attention on knowing one big thing. Continue reading...
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