Five Questions from Quarantine: Daniel Kleinman
Daniel Kleinman, director at and co-founder of Rattling Stick, finds optimism in his garden, inspiration in magic and occasional frustration in playing his wife at Boggle.
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What’s your self isolation set up at the moment?
I’m amazingly lucky, I have a large garden and we're entering into spring, it’s bursting with life and optimism. We’ve been keenly gardening for a good few years, adding to the mature planting. I can walk about it without having to pretend to exercise. I don’t feel smug, I feel quite guilty about it, I’d love to be able to share it, invite people to enjoy it as well, but for now it’s just for my wife and I. I also feel for our relatives living in New Zealand, they are heading into winter. I’m an atheist, but counting my blessings.
It's lockdown; aside from your family, which four people, past or present, would you most like to be quarantined with?
If Homer could speak English, hearing him orate his own long poems would pass the time. The spoken word, narration with the pictures in one's own head, is something I really enjoy. Ricky Jay was an amazing American magician, I’d love to watch his close up magic in a one-to-one situation, and perhaps pester him to teach me some tricks. I’ve always loved magic, the problem is knowing how it’s done is usually disappointing. Perhaps I’d just let him perform.
Constable would be a great companion to sit and paint with in the garden. I’d like to copy the way he achieves his skies. Finally, Domenico Scarlatti, probably the composer I listen to most; he’d have to bring his harpsichord with him though. These probably aren’t very cool choices, but I’m fed up with being cool, happy to be lukewarm.
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We need entertainment, what's your favourite short film?
The Music Box, by Stan and Ollie… classic. Or anything they did really. Genii.
You've completed Netflix. And Amazon Prime. And Disney+. It's onto the hard stuff; board games. What do you pick?
Boggle, does that count? I’m not great at it, but my wife Judy and I play it, and on the rare occasions I get a better score than her, it’s worth the pain of all the others.
On a serious note, how do you think this situation will impact you individually, and the industry as a whole?
Speculating is probably something we will all be doing a lot of in the future (geddit?!). Nobody knows what impact the pandemic will have in the long term, anyone who says they do should be ignored. I’m happy to roll with events, support my colleagues as best as I can and hope as may of us as possible get through this and come out the other end stronger and wiser.
