LISTENING to Jonathan Miller at his Bewdley Festival appearance was to be transported along labyrinthine paths illuminated by a brilliant guide.

Explaining that the driving force behind his fascination with both science and the arts is curiosity about human action, we learned that the relationship between the genotype and phenotype in human reproduction is mirrored by that between the original script and the actual performance of a play; without the involuntary movements, the gestures and natural hesitations, the characters cannot come to life.

The audience chuckled knowingly as Miller delivered a masterclass in how really good drama does not ‘take us out of ourselves’, but forces us to look inward and to recognise that which we know but have forgotten about ourselves.

His personal journey towards specialising in neuropsychology, diverted by his friends and colleagues towards theatre and the arts, was revealed not so much a change of direction as an alternative path to the same goal.

Setting his brilliant mind to work in the acute observation of human behaviour, he uses those observations to bring life and authenticity to role as director.

Who else could transport an opera originally envisaged as set in some never existent ‘elsewhen’, into the life of the Mafiosi in 1950s New York and succeed in winning over not only the traditional opera fans, but also the Mafiosi themselves?

That irritating fellow train passenger talking and gesturing on his phone will never look the same again, and none of last night’s audience will swing their arms as they walk without a wry smile.

A wonderfully entertaining and thought provoking evening.

Review by DG.