Maggie Smith: Over There

Image from Lord Snowdon, 1970.

Notes from Tennessee Williams

Scattered across a bed in New Orleans

1982

Glass shattered and resting on a shiny floor. Damage or design? Shiny but dangerous. Sharp. A distance is required.

Style requires a distance, in anything. Style abhors intimacy. Style is performance--it's big and its movements require space. We stand over here, and it does its thing over there.

The intimacy that exists with Maggie Smith is with her work, the words upon which she stands, cavorts, poses, often jumps from with joy or disgust. There is some intimacy with her fellow players, but she's really on her own.

I would like her in my sights, a boat that often drops its motor and drifts, alone, in the right light, where it needs to go. Over there.

©  2020  James Grissom