Plays on Eclectic Stacks

Not X But Y - a warning from the past

Sun, 24 May 2026 10:00:00 +0100

I was revisiting Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (2013) by philosopher Daniel C. Dennett - and was interested see that years before constructions like “Not X, but Y” became an indicator of AI writing, he was warning that they could also be a sign of a writer attempting a logical sleight of hand…

Constellations - plays branching and switching - and fragmentary Tolkien

Tue, 07 May 2024 22:00:00 +0000

I’d heard great things about, but never got to see, Nick Payne’s two-hander play “Constellations” featuring a cosmologist, a bee-keeper, and branching scenes to show the many alternative ways their story could have gone. (The Guardian explains more in its review of the original production.) So I was excited to see it appear for streaming on National Theatre at Home, with Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd…

A Tom Stoppard riddle

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:00:00 +0100

As my mind wandered while assembling some flat-pack furniture, I was (perhaps inordinately) pleased with myself for coming up with a riddle about one of my favourite playwrights.

A Tom Stoppard riddle - with answer

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:00:00 +0100

As my mind wandered while assembling some flat-pack furniture, I was (perhaps inordinately) pleased with myself for coming up with a riddle about one of my favourite playwrights.