One Little Word Can Say So Much And Mean So Little

WHEN Ian McEwan, in Atonement, has Briony's mother respond to the play her girl has written with the single word "stupendous", one knows, by the word's very exaggeration, that something is amiss. It's a neon light, a clarion call. If Hamlet were here, he'd be saying "All is not well".

The Long And Short Of Play

GRAVE AFFAIR April 3-5: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre Tickets $22-$28 Bookings: 4226 3699 An award-winning short play that was expanded into a full-length production will open at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre next week.

White Man Speaks With Forked Tongue

WHEN Jean Chretien was in charge of the land of moose and maple leaves, his constituents used to joke that Canada had two official languages - but the Prime Minister spoke neither. Now it appears Australia has a leader who finds it hard to speak the sole official tongue of the land. Plain English, that is. After a week of tortured word play and semantic calisthenics over whether he would axe bonuses for carers and pensioners, Kevin Rudd was still trying to stamp out the public relations bushfire yesterday.