Featured Post

Evaluate the appropriateness of the operating systems elements in Essay

Assess the propriety of the working frameworks components as far as their commitments to efficiency and generally speaking adequacy - Essay ...

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Or Aids - 1512 Words

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS comes from the latest stage of the HIV disease. HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is a retrovirus which means it has RNA nucleic acid and genetic material where most have DNA. The virus enters the cells of the body as most do, through endocytosis of white blood cells trying to kill it. When a macrophage ingests a virus, the cell then takes a piece of the virus and presents it on the surface, thus becoming an antigen presenting cell. The antigen presenting cell would then bind to CD4+ cells, also known as helper T cells, who then initiate the humoral or cell-mediated immune response. The humoral response includes the B-cells who release antibodies. The cell-mediated response includes the killer T cells or CD8+ cells. The aspect of the virus that makes it so problematic is the CD4+ cells and how the virus affects them. Cells infected with HIV eventually die and the gradual destruction of the CD4+ cells weaken the immune system func tioning because of their job of activating the third line of defense. The number of antibodies in the body would then decrease and with the immune system so reduced, regular microorganisms that normally would not affect the body are now dangerous. These now lethal microorganisms are known as opportunistic infectious organisms. CLASS NOTES HIV infection occurs through immediate contacts with the infected persons body fluids. The major routes of infection include blood and sexual fluid exchange.Show MoreRelatedAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1401 Words   |  6 PagesAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Duckworth 2 The history of the awful words AIDS and HIV has distressed the world for the past 40 years. It has infused panic in the world from its illness, fear, and regrettably death. AIDS was announced to the world in 1980. It is highly believed that this illness began in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Prior to this time, it is undetermined of the number of people infected developed AIDS orRead MoreAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1289 Words   |  6 PagesIrrefutably, the immune system is ones’ shield against pathogens, ones’ knight in shining armor that confronts intruders. Over time the immune system can deteriorate, and that comes with age and declining health. Other times the immune system fights against itself causing autoimmune diseases that may or may not do irreparable harm. And sometimes, immune deficiency can be acquired. This is the case of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is a disease where the immune system depreciates Read MoreAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1190 Words   |  5 PagesAIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a range of conditions caused by the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is believed to have originated in Africa in the early to mid-twentieth century, mutated from related viruses in chimpanzees and the sooty mangabey monkey. In 1981 AIDS was first clinically detected in people who had used intravenous drugs and homosexual men. They exhibited symptoms of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), an unusual infection that was seenRead MoreAids ( Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome )1968 Words   |  8 PagesOverview of HIV AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was first recognized in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide pandemic (NIH, 2011). HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a direct causation of AIDS. HIV spreads through certain body fluids and attacks the body’s immune system CD4 cells, so that the body is unable to fight off infections and with a much weakened immune system AIDS develops (CDC, 2015). Transmission of this virus happens when exchange of certain body fluids occursRead MoreHiv / Aids Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome775 Words   |  4 PagesHIV/AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a devastating disease, the scope and depth having no boundaries, permeating into many areas of the world, oblivious to social class, lifestyle, or culture. Initially reported in 1981, HIV/ AIDS rapidly spread and by 1987, 100 countries conveyed the presence of HIV/AIDS. (Maurer Smith, 2009). â€Å"By 2001, it was the leading infectious cause of death in the world, killing almost 3 million people, and by 2002, approximately 5 million people wereRead MoreWhen Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )772 Words   |  4 PagesWhen Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) appeared in the early 1980’s on United States’ soil, people - including healthcare professionals - were confused about its nature and origin (Aids.gov). The public looked for a scapegoat and found it in the gay male contingent (Isay). What if a similar phenomenon happened, but in a keystone insect? Rowan Jacobsen, in Fruitless Fall, asserts that a comparable type of illness is affecting the honey bee, apis mellifera; the illness, now termed Colony CollapseRead MoreThe Causative Agent Of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1372 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, is the causative agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Currently, there are two types of HIV isolated, HIV-1 and HIV-2, which are both retroviruses and able to perform reverse transcriptase (Leboffe 2011). While HIV-1 is spread throughout the world, HIV-2 is confined to West Africa and is better protective against the progression to AIDS. Genome of HIV-1 only contains nine genes. It is transmitted by body fluids such as blood, breastRead MoreThe Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv ) / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1199 Words   |  5 PagesThe Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the deadliest pandemics the world has ever known. Unprecedented efforts and resources have been mobilized to fight the infection worldwide. While obvious progress has been made, HIV infection still hit hard and the field of public health continues actively to raise awareness about this issue and help affected people. Public health professionals constantly look for new ways to reach high-risk populations, butRead MoreThe Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv ) Or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1281 Words   |  6 PagesA major epidemic across the world is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Accredited with 10% of the HIV cases annually is injection drug use (AIDS.gov, 2014). A study done in 2010 showed that injection drug use affected nearly 47,500 new HIV infections in the United States. With 625 being males and 38% being female. Breaking it down even further, African Americans made up 50% of the newly affecting using injection drugs, Whites 26%, and Latinos/ HispanicsRead MoreHuman Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv ) / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( Aids )1449 Words   |  6 PagesHuman Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) /Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is present around the world. HIV weakens the bodyâ €™s immune system by attacking its defences against disease this later develops into AIDS which causes for the body to be unable to fight of illness and diseases it usually could (Afao.org.au, 2015). Chad a country of Sub Saharan Africa has an estimated 210,000 people living with HIV/Aids. Working to decrease this a number promotional incentives are being run such as the

Monday, December 23, 2019

Nursing Leadership Analysis - 961 Words

Nursing Leadership Analysis Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager â€Å"manages† the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them. Assessment tools can be a good start for individuals to assess their leadership characteristics and skills, such as Grossman and Valiga’s Leadership Characteristcs and Skills†¦show more content†¦Many would assume that this makes me an invaluable and good leader, but I would like to disagree. I have been a nurse for seven years, still an inexperienced nurse in my eyes and still absorbing information day to day. The nurses have relayed that I have made many positive changes to the culture, work environment, and standards of the department in my short years, i.e., working shift for a fellow nurse who needs time off for the deployment of her son, fighting for wage increases when warranted, encouraging increased education and certifications through brain injury alliances and rehabilitative nursing alliance. One thing is for certain, I listen and encourage the nurses’ inputs and opinions when it comes to changes regarding the department. I empower the nurses to have their voices heard and their actions be seen throughout the company and give credit where credit is due. I also encourage them to be better nurses and utilize their skills to the max, i.e. applying their rehabilitative nursing certification through trainings throughout the company. With some insight on my leadership skills, I believe my nursing leadership style is one of a servant leader. The term servant leader was coined by Robert Greenleaf and describes individuals who not only influence but motivate others around them by building relationships and developing the skills of individual team members. According to Greenleaf this style of management requires that the entire teamShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Nursing Leadership. Observing And Analyzing1333 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of Nursing Leadership Observing and analyzing my leader opened my eyes to the amount of responsibility and knowledge one needs to be a great leader. These responsibilities that were witnessed during the shadowing project included aspects of role modeling, mentoring and educating fellow staff and colleagues alike. My leader possessed a well-rounded amount of experience, skills and knowledge about nursing and her management role. All of these aspects we observed and I feel my leader is notRead MoreThe Effects Of Leadership Characteristics On Pediatric Registered Nurses Job Satisfaction844 Words   |  4 PagesResearch Critique: Effects of Leadership Characteristics on Pediatric Registered Nurses’ Job Satisfaction Nursing job satisfaction continues to rank high as an area of concern for Nurse Executives. Dissatisfied nurses can lead to a decreased ability to recruit nurses and increased turnover (Ruggiero, 2005), leading to lower patient satisfaction. The costs of nursing turnover has been hard to measure and varies from study to study (Li Jones, 2013), however Brewer, et al. (2011) estimates $856Read MoreLeadership And The Graduate Nurse Role1144 Words   |  5 Pages Leadership and The Graduate Nurse Role Meha Patel South University â€Æ' Leadership and the Graduate Nursing Role Leadership is a core competency in the field of advanced practice nursing (Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, O’Grady, 2014). Graduate level nurses exercise leadership across four major spheres including nursing profession, clinical practice environments, health policy, and at the system level. This paper provides and analysis of the author’s leadership style and attributes, a descriptionRead MoreThe Rising Of A New Nurse Leader1404 Words   |  6 Pagesprofessional nurse in leadership is one that is transformational, involved in a professional organization, a change agent, and has a high Emotional Intelligence to be able to manage a team. She is aware and knowledgeable of the inevitable changes occurring in the nursing field. She is highly capable in setting up strategies for conflict resolution and culturally competent with such capacity in achieving high performance in a diverse healthcare team. Most importantly, her leadership promotes the use andRead MoreMagnet And Its Effec ts On Nursing Practice1610 Words   |  7 PagesMagnet and its effects on Nursing Practice According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), there are 426 hospitals that have achieved Magnet status (ANCC, 2016). Hospitals that are designated Magnet facilities have a professional practice model that is based on a connection between their mission, values and nursing practice (Berger, Conway, Beaton, 2012). The professional practice model must also encompass the Magnet Program’s foundation for nursing excellence. The Magnet CertificationRead MoreIOM Report and Future of Nursing882 Words   |  4 PagesIOM report and future of Nursing April 07, 2013 IOM report and future of Nursing IOM (Institute of Medicine), in partnership with RWJF (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), developed the report â€Å"The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing health on October 5, 2010.This detailed study focus on the significant connection between the health needs of various, varying populations and the actions of the nursing staff. The health care delivery system and nursing profession consider thisRead MoreIom Report and Future of Nursing933 Words   |  4 Pagesfuture of Nursing Sunu Saju Grand Canyon University NRS 430V April 07, 2013 IOM report and future of Nursing IOM (Institute of Medicine), in partnership with RWJF (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), developed the report â€Å"The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing health on October 5, 2010.This detailed study focus on the significant connection between the health needs of various, varying populations and the actions of the nursing staff. The health care delivery system and nursing professionRead MoreThe Importance of Theory1612 Words   |  7 Pagesin general nursing units. The intent of this paper is to give a brief history of the evolution of nursing and how the practice of nursing has evolved into a theory based profession. The next section, Benner’s theory, Novice to Expert, will contain an analysis of the key concepts of the theory and how this theory relates to the nursing metaparadigm. The third section will illustrate how Benner’s theory is applied in clinical practice and outline the roles of nurses, nursing leadership and nurse educatorsRead MoreThe Curren t Incidents Of Poor Leadership Within The Health Service Essay1650 Words   |  7 Pagesessay aims to define and analyse the leadership within the context of the NHS and specifically in the nursing profession. Further, this assignment will highlight some of the current incidents of poor leadership within the Health service. It will then briefly discuss some of the leadership theories whilst exploring my own leadership style along with rationale. SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analysis will be conducted to identify my leadership potential, which will be included inRead MoreThe Healthcare Technology Of Today Essay1725 Words   |  7 Pagesfour weeks we covered many topics on nursing leadership and styles. First, I learned that time management, leadership theories, learning styles, leadership and management are all essential parts of nursing. Second, I learned that everyone has different types of personalities and what seems right to me, is not the only way. Th ird, I learned about change theories, conflict theories and leaders as change agents. Also, the conflict resolution questionnaire analysis showed me that my style of conflict

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Write Your Response to the First Chapter of Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan Free Essays

Write your response to the first chapter of â€Å"Enduring Love† â€Å"The beginning is simple to mark. † – The first line of the novel is designed to hook readers and it does. The use of the word â€Å"beginning† begs the question, the beginning of what? Instantly capturing our interests, it also shows the significance of the event as coupled with the word â€Å"simple† it shows complexity surrounding this mysterious, forthcoming event, again capturing our interests, and it shows the narrator has replayed this event a number of times to himself to of found the exact moment where everything began. We will write a custom essay sample on Write Your Response to the First Chapter of Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan or any similar topic only for you Order Now I believe it is a rather cliche opening to a novel but with McEwan being the author he manages to make it is an effective cliche. McEwan, through the introduction of characters and detail, instantly introduces the subject of class into the novel and so sets the backdrop for the novel. With a bottle of 1987 Daumas Gassac and a name like Clarissa that holds the connotations of wealth and luxury we are told of the class and lifestyle surrounding who we assume are the main characters. With the narrative voice in chapter one of the novel focusing on thought and detail and not emotion it introduces a rather robotic character in Joe. We get to know him quickly and quite intimately as the novel is written as though he is talking to straight to us. We are shown the absence of feeling in him which is replaced by the almost irrational use of logic he uses. For me, too much emphasis is put on the scientific part of Joe, we are told his mind works in a scientific way and it is made apparent that he is very intelligent but this is drilled into the readers head over and over again until it becomes potentially irritating and monotonous. There is no human being behind the voice, he observes in very close detail everything around him but does not feel a great deal about it. Joe’s need for detail to perhaps eliminate some of the guilt that he feels at this stage of the novel is repeated to the extent that it becomes almost obsessive. The relationship between Joe and Clarissa is intriguing. They are both at opposite ends of a spectrum, with Joe being an unemotional, rational and obsessive scientist it is worlds apart from Clarissa, who is an artist and relies heavily on emotion. Despite being together for seven years, the two are too different to be compatible in a much longer term, they think in different ways and appear to not have a lot of common ground.. In the first chapter the focus is on the balloon accident but when it becomes apparent that this is not the main event in the novel the only other thing we have been given to focus on is the relationship between the pair which is interesting and dare I say it, it makes the reader want to read on. The setting for the opening scene is a blank canvas; the field in which the accident takes place is simple and lets the accident take the forefront of the story. The simplicity gives way for more complex events but the serenity of the scene which is then interrupted by a tragic accident is significant in that it could be a metaphor for the rest of novel. Joe and Clarissa are quite happy together in the beginning and have been for some time but as the story unfolds and Jed, like the balloon, crashes into their relationship, cracks begin to show and disaster strikes. McEwan uses a lot of delay techniques in the first chapter. I find he delays the events to the point of near boredom. Although what he writes is interesting it is repetitive and nauseatingly pretentious. The majority of the chapter is McEwan making his presence felt, the narrative voice changes from being Joe to being McEwan and back to Joe again. There are too many complex paragraphs that have barely any relevance to the novel other than to show how intelligent McEwan is. However despite not particularly enjoying the first chapter of â€Å"Enduring Love†, McEwan achieves his initial objective, to intrigue the reader. How to cite Write Your Response to the First Chapter of Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Gurney cuts loose sort of Essay Example For Students

Gurney cuts loose sort of Essay Im trying to move away from the light form of the drawing-room comedy, A. R. Gurney told a New York Times interviewer in 1989, in an article focusing on the success (despite a mixed Times review) of The Cocktail Hour, his semi-autobiographical piece about a playwright who informs his parents hes used them as characters in his new satire. In the offing, the article suggested, was a new Gurney play that will focus on his generation as the parents instead of the children. Such a play finally premiered last spring but in The Fourth Wall, Gurney didnt move away from drawing-room comedy so much as he rushed at it and tore it limb from limb. The deconstruction was delicate, of course; genteel politeness is a hallmark of Gurney as both man and writer, and probably ever will be. Thats one of the things that annoy his critics: the lack of explosiveness in his work, despite the sometimes provocative situations he sets up. But though verbal and physical violence was kept to a discreet minimum an irritated expletive here, a flare-up of obscenity there, a vase tossed noisily and disrespectfully into a fireplace Gurneys assault on comedy of manners was comparatively devastating in The Fourth Wall, which was presented in Chicago in March under the auspices of Feenix Productions International. And a viewing of Gurneys most recent play, the emotionally intense and critically acclaimed Later Life which opened at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in late May, just as The Fourth Way was finishing its Chicago run suggests that in The Fourth Walls wake Gurney has begun to reach depths of feeling missing in his earlier work. While few observers have serious complaints about the craftsmanship in Gurneys major scripts such as The Dining Room, his breakthrough success of 1982, and the readers-theatre tragicomedy Love Letters many have voiced reservations about insularity, coldness and even irrelevance in Gurneys work, which may stem (it has been frequently suggested) from his preoccupation with the rarefied world in which he was raised. Born in 1930, Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. is the son of a Buffalo real-estate executive. Since he began writing professionally in the late 1950s and certainly since the early 1970s, when Scenes from American Life at Lincoln Center Theater Company stamped him as a writer to be reckoned with his specialty has consistently been the shaky state of the uptight WASP elite in a changing America, the erosion of antiquated yet admirable values, the loss of the civil in civilization. To which more than a few critics have responded, So what? Gurney is hardly unaware of this reaction. It both amused and bothered him to a sufficient degree that he made it an issue in The Cocktail Hour, whose playwriting protagonist John has a habit of drawing upon his affluent background for material. He said we werent worth writing about, John complains, citing one reviewers comment. There you are, his mother chimes in. You see? Nobody cares about our way of life. In The Cocktail Hour, it develops that John has been skewering his family onstage because he craves their attention off it. The plays happy ending only half-jokingly asserts that the reason people write for, and go to, the theatre is to seek reconciliation in their ruptured lives and thus that even light comedy like Gurneys carries meaning and validity when it connects with its audience. But in his far more inconclusive new works, Gurney seems to be questioning whether as an artist he is actually connecting with anyone at all. .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .postImageUrl , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:hover , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:visited , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:active { border:0!important; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:active , .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906 .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u04f4d8cbd52585c704e90a6282dfb906:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: If George Gibbs were gay Essay Insistently theatrical   The Fourth Wall is an absurdist twist on the kind of witty, well-made comedy The Cocktail Hour epitomizes. But what was vaguely theatrical in The Cocktail Hour is insistently so in The Fourth Way, whose heroine, a well-off housewife named Peggy (played by Betty Buckley), has deliberately decorated the living room of her Manhattan apartment to face a blank wall which is, of course, the fourth wall separating the stage from the audience. Her husband Roger (George Segal) a genial, recently retired businessman is confounded. He complains that the room makes him and anyone else who enters it act as if theyre in an old-fashioned play, with all its artifice and superficiality. No wonder our children wont visit us, he sighs. They hate the theatre unless we pay for it. But Peggy wonders whether in fact they are in a play. What if there were people beyond that wall? she says. And what if this audience were really democratic poor people there, as well as rich? And what if they were ethnical ly diverse? What, for example, if there were a decent number of African Americans out there? Her friend Julia (Jean De Baer), a sophisticated sexual predator with her eye on Roger, is cynical: Theyd hate this thing, Peggy. Theyd rush right off to August Wilson. But the play that Peggy has set in motion begins to take on a life of its own, as Roger, Peggy and Julia begin behaving like characters in a Philip Barry comedy. Their dialogue becomes unabashedly expository, filled with witty quips and quotes from songs. The moral and metaphysical question soon arises: Just what is this play theyre in? Call it four characters in search of a plot. Eventually Peggy does indeed break through the fourth wall to greet the audience and head off for a new, uncertain life, with Roger chasing after her. Embracing artifice   While The Fourth Wall ends with a woman rejecting theatrical artifice, Later Life begins with a woman embracing it. Im setting the stage, says the hostess of a cocktail party to the plays hero, a Boston banker named Austin (played last summer at Playwrights Horizons by Charles Kimbrough), as she brings him out onto the terrace of her apartment. (Later Life is currently running at Manhattans West-side Theatre, with Josef Sommer replacing Kimbrough.) The womans intention is to reunite Austin with Ruth (Maureen Anderman), an old flame he had gently turned down 30 years ago despite their mutual attraction, saying he didnt want to involve her in his life because of a deep-seated feeling that something terrible was destined to happen to him in later life. Something terrible did happen, it turns out: The something was nothing nothing has engaged or affected him in the successful, emotionally dead existence for which he was bred. Ruth, on the other hand, has rushed in where Austin feared to tread. Shes on her fourth husband, an abusive Las Vegas gambler who both scares and excites her. Whose life is sadder her sensation-seeking one, or his cautiously constricted one? Though he can barely admit it, Austin thinks its his and that sense of failure is the most terrible thing of all. On one level, the sparklingly witty The Fourth Wall and the darker, dryly poignant Later Life share a concern that arises frequently in Gurneys work the gulf between a cautious, eminently logical, emotionally repressed man and a vital, questing, possibly unstable but fascinating woman. But both plays also seem to address directly another gulf that between the artist and his audience. Gurney says he didnt intend Peggys quest as an allegory for his own work. I had certainly thought of the whole nature of theatre   the potential of theatre to communicate with a group of people to express psychological thoughts and political thoughts, he says. But Peggy as an image of my own frustrations? I hadnt thought of it that way. .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .postImageUrl , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:hover , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:visited , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:active { border:0!important; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:active , .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud4d3f70ad513cd0a6aaf2610309e94ef:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Andrei Serban: educating Prosperos EssayWhat has concerned me is the inability of the theatre to reach a larger audience these days. Im not talking about the musical things like Phantom and Miss Saigon. Theyre more like the Ice Capades. But the serious plays speak to fewer and fewer and older and older people. I know my own children and most of their friends rarely go to the theatre. Gurney is stuck. Hes compelled to write for the theatre, yet he fears its an endangered form. Its artificial, its archaic, its restrictive beyond belief, says the playwright John of his medium in The Cocktail Hour. While that comedy ends with improved communication among the characters, in Gurneys new plays a terrible sense of doubt accompanies the need for human connection. In my more cynical or less ambitious moments, I feel that you may not be able to create that community in the audience. Yet the pleasures of putting on a play, of being able to work with a good director, good designers, good actors that remains terribly exciting to me. Then if the audience becomes part of that transaction, thats even more exciting.