Books to read at the cricket? Biography by Max Frisch

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Have you tried to read summat while at a cricket match? Let us know how it went at king@kingcricket.co.uk

Ged Ladd writes…

The play Biography by Max Frisch was top of my reading pile for Day Three of the first Lord’s test of the 2021 summer, which I had planned/booked to spend in the new Warner Stand.

In 1995 I saw a production of Biography with Daisy & The Duchess at The Questor’s. It is a post-modern play about determinism. I one-clicked a copy of the play text when retroblogging that 1995 experience 25 years later.

Even when it became obvious that there would be little or no cricket due to rain, I remained determined to read the Biography play text that day. Exercising my free will, I was…or was I?

I also determined to utilise the day:

  • Writing pieces for King Cricket
  • Going to the gym
  • Eating my picnic bagel, finger salad and fruit

I am delighted to report that I succeeded in doing all of those things. I even managed to join in some bants on my Day One Match Report, which included a strangely prescient comment by KC about post-modern match reports.

How did KC know that I was reading and about to report on an über-post-modern play? Was my Day Three activity predetermined?

In truth, I am rather grateful that I got to read Biography at home in the absence of cricket rather than at the cricket. It is quite a complex play, which deserves contemplative thought and thus probably doesn’t lend itself to being read at the cricket.

In summary, Biography is:

  • a fascinating play that reads very well as a play text,
  • almost certainly better read away from cricket rather than at cricket,
  • entirely unconnected with cricket, except to the extent that, if you subscribe to deterministic philosophies, you presumably believe that everything is connected to everything.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

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