"GREEN ROOM"
Interviews / Miscellaneous articles / Backstage 'gossip' etc.
SHEILA CONNOR
Talks to
CLIVE REVEL HORWOOD
Craig Revel Horwood is most famous as the low-marking Mr. Nasty of the
judging panel on the Strictly Come Dancing television programme which he thinks
is ‘quite bizarre’. He spent fifteen years as a dancer and fifteen
years as a highly respected director and choreographer, climbing to the top of
his profession, yet it is a Saturday night television programme which has
catapulted him into the public gaze and made him a household name.
Previously he was almost anonymous, apart from his name on the credits, and it
took him some time to get used to being recognised in the street. It was
his work as director and choreographer, however, that brought him to the
attention of the organisers of Strictly who wanted
judges from the theatre world, as well as those from ballroom and Latin, and he
brings the expertise from his daily life to evaluate, criticise and hopefully
give the dancers some suggestions to improve.
Cast for the second time
as the Wicked Queen in Snow White, he arrived for his photo call, and interview, in full flowing costume and make-up
complete with false eyelashes and vertiginously high heeled bright red court
shoes and I cheekily asked if he thought he was being type-cast. He
laughed. It might surprise some people who watch the show to know he
laughs a lot.
“Well
slightly” he conceded “I’m the wicked one on the TV programme
so I suppose it does give people an opportunity to come and boo me which is
really great fun, and I take it all in jest anyway. People last year
were very funny. I finished the dance routine and they were shouting out
numbers and scores - all good humour, and I can take criticism you know.
I put myself on the line as much as any other artist does and I take the criticism.
I think you have to”.
“Strictly is
really a very small part of what makes me me.
It is so weird to go out shopping and find I’m being recognised, and the
thought of me becoming public fodder was terrifying, but I’ve used it now
to my advantage to be honest, to try and get bums on seats in the theatre.
I think that’s what great about it. I can still both direct
and choreograph and, hopefully, invite a television crowd to come and see a
show. A lot of my shows are accessible and I do a lot of touring
productions. My objective is to get people to come and see theatre.
Go and see some of the stuff that’s going on there and see how
wonderful the British actors and actresses really are.”
Many of his productions
began life in the tiny producing theatre, the Watermill at Newbury, a venue
where he obviously loves to work, revelling in the challenges of having to use
ingenuity, wit and humour to deal with lack of
space,
“I love the
Watermill because it’s so small and intimate, plus you don’t get
enormous big West End producers having a knife in your back and twisting it,
having to make it work because they have spent twelve billion.
It’s a place you can be really creative, a place where you can be unique
in your work without it being judged too much by other people and having to
change your concept of ideas just to suit an audience. That’s what
I love about it - the sense of freedom that the place gives me.
It’s only a 200 seater and a very small space
to deal with, and I do the most amazingly ‘big’ musicals - with
twelve people. Sunset Boulevard, Martin Guerre, The
Hot Mikado, really huge big splashy musicals”.
His latest shows, Spend Spend Spend and Chess are
presently touring (to great acclaim) and I wondered if it was difficult to
translate them to larger stages.
“Going to a bigger
space it just breathes a little bit more which I think is great, and
that’s generally what the actors want. I make fun of the smaller
spaces, well I use wit in that way, like having showgirls with ridiculously
big costumes and only being able to fit two of them in, but a show like that on
tour wouldn’t work because you’d need ten of them. I
don’t think every show is right to tour,
sometimes it should be venue specific. Copacabana this summer was venue
specific and I had no intention of taking that out, but it was one of the most
sold-out productions we had out of all of them - amazing!”
Following in the
footsteps of director John Doyle, Horwood mainly uses
actor musicians for his musicals, known as a quadruple threat as they are
expert in singing, dancing, acting and playing, and he makes full use of their
talents, one time having a double bass player tap dancing one rhythm while
playing another. He doesn’t give them an easy ride, but then he doesn’t
believe in compromise.
His career path began in
his homeland, Australia, where after extensive ballet training as a good base
(comparisons with Billy Elliot here) he landed his first professional job, at
the age of seventeen, in West Side Story where he “fell in love with
musicals and tap dancing” and particularly loves the teaching process and
having some control over the whole play.
“I love being on
the opposite side of it, I really do, but this was quite frightening, coming
back to performing, because of course there’s a lot of knives out there
for me - especially the Press. They’ll have a field day with it,
but I don’t care. They can say what they like about me, the worst,
at the moment, is over”.
‘The worst’ I assumed was the reports of some
episodes in his earlier life and I asked if he had written his autobiography to
set the record straight.
“Yes, I wrote a
book with the help of Alison Maloney which was good fun, I really enjoyed that.
I wanted to let everyone know what happened to me before. I think
people leaked everything and got paid for stories that were untrue, so I thought, well I’m not having that in my life.
This is what my life is, so I brought it out and then it’s over. I
don’t particularly want anyone to be that interested in me, to be honest.
I didn’t go out of my way to become well-known in that way”.
As well as
‘getting bums on seats’ he is most anxious to encourage people,
particularly the young, to exercise as a way of building up their ‘bone bank‘ and, together with Camilla Parker-Bowles is a
patron of the Osteoporosis society, trying to raise awareness of the condition
and thinking he can help by encouraging people into getting up and dancing as a
way of strengthening their bones to avoid trouble in later life, and somehow
that brought us on to Anne Widdecombe.
“I can completely
understand why she’s doing Strictly, she’s
up for a laugh and I think that’s brilliant, and you know she’s up
for learning the steps as well, she does actually want to achieve them.
She’s actually representing quite a lot of people in this country who
look at that and think “You know what - I think I might go and start
dance lessons’ - and what better exercise. Most people as they get
older just want to sit and watch telly, but it’s lovely to get some form
of creative outlet, and it’s a great place to meet people.”
Is there any work he is
particularly proud of?
“Well - the Ballet
Boyz was one, that was a particular challenge for me
because we didn’t know whether or not we would be absolutely slated for
trying to bring two different worlds together because I’d just been
training in Argentine tango and then I found this music which was absolutely
perfect... two tango masters just fighting each other in
orchestrations...classical ballet battling tango, battling each other and two
men basically having an argument but loving one another. There was
nothing homo-erotic about it, it wasn’t meant to be, just two blokes
together. That’s probably one of the more famous ones, apart from
Spend Spend Spend - a
proper British musical which has been really well written with great care and
great creativity, and it’s just a wonderfully written organic piece
that’s easy to stage.”
After all he has
achieved so far, what are his plans for the future?
“Oh, Hollywood
I’d say,” laughing again, but just a bit serious.
“I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of film to do with dance, and
I’m hoping to team up with the ballet boys because they’re getting
into that media and I would really love to do that. Something sort of
arty-farty and small, nothing big budgety,
something I’d be really proud to do, because then it’s there forever.
Within theatre you can have a special moment and you never see that
moment again but it remains in your body and your soul and your conscienceness. Film would preserve it and it also
goes to a mass audience.
Far from being Mr.
Nasty, Craig Revel Horwood is one of the nicest
people I have met in the theatre world, and most certainly the very nicest
Wicked Queen.
PETER KEMP our
Australian reviewer sent this small interview he had with Peggy
Sue Garron of the Buddy Holly song Peggy Sue fame – January 2009
Everyone who is a fan of Buddy Holly and
even those who aren’t have heard the great hit Peggy Sue. Perhaps
some still could be surprised to know that Peggy Sue is a real person. A
charming lady Peggy Sue Gerron told your
correspondent that her first meeting with Buddy Holly was in a hallway of
Lubbock High School where Buddy, while running with guitar and amplifier in
hand, accidentally knocked her over. He apologised by saying “I’m
too late to pick you up, but you sure are pretty”.
Peggy Sue and her
steady’ Jerry Allison, double-dated with Buddy and shared rhythm and
blues records and plans for the future.
Following graduation Peggy married Jerry
Allison who was the Crickets drummer.
Today Peggy is a celebrity speaker, radio
host and columnist. Just as a sideline she is also a ham radio hobbyist keeping
in touch with Buddy Holly fans across the wild.
A charming vivacious lady and very happy
to be in Australia for the first time and was excited about seeing a kangaroo
and cuddling a koala. Very enthusiastic about Scott Cameron
portraying Buddy. She considers he has captured the exact feel of Buddy
Holly even to some of his expressions .
Sheila Connor talks to
Penelope Keith
a
gardener who acts..
Penelope
arrived for her interview looking cool and relaxed in light trousers and shirt
– practical clothing for a hard working lady who describes herself as
“a gardener who acts”, and now completely in her element in a
vicarage garden in a touring production of “Entertaining Angels”.
Her character in the play is Grace, a recently bereaved vicar’s wife who
suddenly finds herself bereft, not only of husband, but also of home and
lifestyle – and her uppermost feeling is not loneliness or despair, but
anger. “How dare he leave me” says Grace, and rather to
Keith’s surprise and interest that is exactly how many widows feel
– confirmed by those who spoke to her when the play was in Chichester
earlier this year.
The play
finished its run there at the end of May and I wondered what she had been doing
since. “Oh I don’t do summers” she said happily “I just
stay around in my house and garden, and sometimes go to Scotland” I asked
what her husband does. “Oh he looks after me” and we both agreed
this is a splendid arrangement.
What
attracted her to this part? “It’s difficult to say why one wants to
play a part. the thing that attracts me is the writing,……the way
that writers use language, and of course the theme, and it was very interesting
finding a male writer (Richard Everett) who has written so well for women, and
he seems to understand very much how women think ……also it’s
always exciting doing a new play”..
The
story begins, seemingly, as a gentle comedy with plenty of laughter, but soon
develops into more serious matters. The arrival of a batty missionary sister
and the revealing of long hidden secrets cause Grace to question religion and
the purpose of her life. “When a play is really good it reflects
life……this one makes you laugh, and then suddenly brings you up
very short – there’s laughter and tears in life all the
time”.
I asked
what it was like working on real grass (Paul Farnsworth has designed the most
amazingly realistic set). The memory made her laugh.
“Well
at Chichester we had a stream as well and the grass went down into the stream
so it was all very wet. I said we’d all get trench foot! I had to kneel
down occasionally and I’d get up with these terribly wet
knees……..I just got wetter and wetter, almost squelched across,
some parts were quite boggy. Now, I suppose we’re all used to it, and (in
the touring production) we haven’t got real water and the grass is on a
sort of woven thing with some soil.” Hopefully trench foot will be kept
at bay!
A true
gardener, Penelope brought flowers to enhance the set – dandelions
– “and of course the bugs came too, so by the end we had these
wonderful cobwebs on the long bits at the front, and a money spider crawled
onto my hand”. Did it work? ..I asked.
“I’m waiting!” she laughed.
She is
particularly enthusiastic about a series of gardening programmes that she
presented for Thames TV some years ago, called “Growing Places”.
“It was a time when ‘Gardener’s World’ was about the
only one on TV and I thought there was a niche for a programme for people who
knew a bit and were enthusiastic and wanted to know a lot and we went all over
the country to various gardens. There was one on the way into Kingston which
was council run – at an old people’s home. I wanted to get my hands
dirty and to be seen in a garden, and we totally re-did this one which was
lovely. Then I believe the council sold it! Anyhow it was huge fun, and Bill Odie appeared every week talking about wild life in the
garden.”
Everything
to Keith is ‘fascinating’ - performing on wet grass, presenting a
gardening programme, being part of a new play, and a year as High Sheriff of
Surrey when she took time off from acting in order to concentrate on her
duties, particularly focusing on the emergency services and the Law. She is
also President of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund and was awarded an OBE in
1988 - a very professional hard-working lady – and deservedly one of our
best loved actors.
STEPHEN McGANN
Probably best known as ‘love
rat’ Sean Reynolds in Emmerdale - is a man who
loves a challenge.
Stephen McGann
talks to Sheila Connor.
Actor
and writer McGann has now added singing and dancing
to his CV in his current show, the musical Footloose, now coming to the end of
its lengthy tour before exploding into the West End. When I spoke to him he was
in Edinburgh, and enjoying a mild sunny day (to my surprise) and thoroughly
enjoying the show. Although the tour has been somewhat exhausting, and he was
missing his family, he is really enjoying the experience – “It is a
great pleasure to be able to do this – so much so that when I’m not
needed I stand in the wings and watch anyway – I love it – I love
every minute of it. The show itself is one of the most enjoyable distractions
from that (family life) I’ve ever had”. He is ,
however, looking forward to a week’s break before opening at the newly
named Novello Theatre, when he will be able to take his son, nine year old
Dominic, to school each day.
“I
was in a soap opera (Emmerdale) when Dominic was a
young boy, and by sheer coincidence we had another actor who was in a soap
opera very near to us whose son he used to play with – so he presumed
this was completely normal – so much so that he would look on television
for other members of the household”
Asked
about the character he is playing – Rev. Shaw Moore - it would appear
that McGann takes the role very seriously,
“although in the context of a full on West End Musical it has a strongly
dramatic premise”. The show is based on the immensely successful 1984
film which ‘took the world by storm with its youthful spirit, dazzling
dance and electrifying music’ and made a star of lead actor Kevin Bacon,
and the stage show is enjoying similar success – now on its second UK
tour.
Rev.
Shaw rules his mid-western community – not with a rod of iron, but with a
very strong moral hand. A very caring man, popular but uncompromising in the
moral stand he takes against the kind of temptations that young people have to
go through, and he bans rock and roll music, dance and alcohol from the
Beaumont area which is the town where the play is set. “You begin to
discover there’s a personal tragedy in Shaw Moore’s life –
the loss of his son – that led him to taking the stance he takes, and
when the boy Ren arrives from Chicago and sees that
these kids aren’t allowed to dance he begins to rally them against the
laws of the town….. On one level it seems to be the battle between youth
and kill-joy adults, but Shaw has his own reasons for wanting to keep children
protected……..and once those reasons are addressed………and
resolved, Shaw can change his mind and his views – so there’s a lot
to play with and all of that within the context of a musical – almost a
unique opportunity! There is a strong dramatic theme to Shaw’s character
which for someone who’s principally an actor is a real bonus and
it’s been a real joy to play”.
McGann has performed in several musicals previously, but
never plumbed the depths dramatically (except perhaps once – when he
played Mickey in Blood Brothers in the West End) and he repeatedly asked
“Do you want the full drama, or more like in the context of musical
theatre?” They were adamant about wanting the reality of drama “So
in a way we do both……I also sing as well and I even dance at the
end which is comedy by anybody’s book!.”
Turning
to his writing career he is equally enthusiastic, considering it a fascinating
world and also incredibly humbling. He screen writes rather than writing books,
and is particularly proud of his work writing the screen-play for the 1995 BBC
drama about the Irish potato famine ‘The Hanging Gale’, in which he
starred along with his three brothers. “It encapsulated a very terrible
event which people don’t like to talk about. It was very difficult and
took a very long time, but I’m so glad we bothered. I had a recent e-mail
from a teacher in Canada who was using it as course material for his pupils on
the emigration of the Irish……….one of those lovely moments
when you find you may have done something which may be worthwhile”.
There
weren’t many laughs in that show as the theme was pretty unrelenting, but
McGann mostly finds that comedy is not very far from
his mind and he tends to work at having a good time. His co-star Cheryl Baker
(originally a member of the singing group Bucks Fizz) is obviously a kindred
spirit – “a dream to work with…….. absolutely
wonderful……..fantastic and hilarious. We began giggling like two
schoolchildren within about five minutes of starting rehearsals and I’ve
never really stopped since. We get told off about it because we’re very
naughty!”. I feel that the above photograph must
be in one of his more serious moments.
It was
in a musical that McGann, as a teenager, began his
theatrical career – Yakety Yak in 1982 - in
which he starred along with all his brothers, and in fact worked recently with
two of them, Mark and Joe, in the Ray Cooney farce Tom, Dick and Harry in
London’s West End. The brothers all lead such busy lives that it is not
easy to get together – but they all enjoy catching up on family news when
the opportunity arises. “This year” says McGann
“I’ve done a straight play, a farce and a musical, three very
different disciplines, with very different skills and, gosh, it was hard work
– the farce was a tricky one - hardest for the timing, but very
rewarding, and it’s completely relentless. Once you start you start this
roller coaster ride and you don’t have a break - you’re there all
the time ……….the concentration needed is amazing, but it was
great fun to do – very funny!”
McGann has no theatrical background – his father
worked in a factory and his mother was a teacher, but he enjoys a story where
son Dominic came to see him in Tom, Dick and Harry and there were his Uncle
Mark, his Uncle Joe and his cousin Charlotte (doing work experience) all in the
same building. It seems the McGann brothers have
begun their own theatrical dynasty and it remains to be seen whether their
offspring will carry it on, although at the moment son Dominic wants to be a
marine biologist despite doing well in school plays, and proud father is very
happy about that.
McGann’s time in Emmerdale
was great fun and he considers it a fantastic job which provided a stable three
years in which to have nice holidays and the time to take care of family, but
it didn’t stretch him and he came out feeling a little bit jaded –
then he did Art in the West End “which was the most wonderful cure
– the most brilliant play – an absolute delight”, and a very
challenging part too.
On the
subject of challenge - commenting on a trekking company co-incidentally called
‘Footloose’ brought us to more of McGann’s
challenging activities. He has completed two trips, one to Nepal and one to
Peru which went up to 18.000 feet in the Andes. Being an enthusiastic hill
walker he jumped at the chance of partaking, but also to promote the work of
The Children’s Society – a charity very close to his heart. He has
a soft spot for charities which deal with children – particularly
teenagers – difficult teenagers with problems. He grew up in Liverpool
with the working classes and attended school there with kids without much of a
chance – “The kind of people that the Prince’s Trust helps,
and it’s my way of saying thank you and to help those who didn’t
get the opportunities that I was lucky enough to receive!” A charming man - a very successful actor, writer, and now singer and
dancer…….and also with an active social conscience.
PUTTING THE
‘CRITIC’ IN HIS PLACE
This
article was written as a result of the critics annihilation of a new musical, "THE
FIX" premiered at the Donmar Warehouse. Written by two
new artists ("Theatreworld Internet Magazine" believes in fostering
and encouraging new talent) - it has become our "manifesto" with
regards to our approach to 'reviewing' - this is what sets us apart from the
printed word "CRITIC" !
“THE FIX” WAS A WONDERFUL
INVENTIVE NEW MUSICAL WRITTEN BY TWO EXTREMELY TALENTED ARTISTS -THE AUDIENCE
THOUGHT SO - SO WHICH PLANET DO THE PRINTED WORD - ‘CRITICS’
LIVE ON ??? DUE TO THE
‘SAVAGING’ OF THE BRITISH CRITICS, UNIQUE TALENT WAS (ALMOST
DESTROYED) - FORTUNATELY FARSIGHTED PEOPLE (such as myself) DECIDED NOT TO
LET THIS HAPPEN - THUS THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS ‘PENNED’
- IT REMAINS IN THE “GREEN ROOM” AS A WARNING TO ANY CRITIC
WHO SAVAGES UNNECESSARILY IN FUTURE - “Theatreworld Internest Magazine” GIVES FAIR, UNBIASED REVIEWS -
AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO - ‘CRITICS BEWARE’!
This
article was written as a means of re-dressing the balance and putting into
perspective the SAVAGING by the majority of London ‘Critics’ of one
of the most exciting theatrical events of the year - the World Premiere of
“THE FIX”, directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse in June
1997.
I do
not, have not, and will never call myself a ‘CRITIC’. It is a
totally negative word and implies that (as many of them appear to have the word
stamped on their foreheads!) - as soon as they enter the
auditorium - they are there to criticise. WRONG. They are there on an audiences
behalf (in free seats!) to assess the performance for the theatre-goer and to
give them an honest, unbiased review - and should be based on their knowledge
of the particular genre of work they are reviewing.
It would
appear that 90% of the ‘critics’ know absolutely nothing whatsoever
about the musical theatre - indeed, most of them we already know consider it a
second-rate art form - as the majority of the reviews for “THE FIX”
clearly demonstrated.
I had
the opportunity to read and assess 7 ‘newspaper’ reviews - I will
not name names - but merely wish to point out some of the bullshit (excuse the
language) that was written about THIS WONDERFUL SHOW!!!!!!!
Most of
my (valued!) readers are sensible, rational theatre-goers - who simply want to
know ‘What’s New and interesting in the Theatre’ - and
hopefully when the particular production has opened - receive a solid, soundly
based review, totally unbiased and largely based upon audience reaction.
One
‘critic’ wrote that “the book lacked wit, imagination and
implausibility....” - the book (i.e. the ‘script’ -
-something which has been forgotten with the Megablockbuster
type of so-called British musical we have been subject to for
the past two decades) WAS TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE, EXTREMELY WITTY (this particularly
critic must have ‘lost’ his hearing aid since he obviously
didn’t listen to the lyrics!) and the opening
number to the second act with a dancing cripple DOING A SOFT-SHOE SHUFFLE WITH
HIS DEAD BROTHER! - WAS EXTREMELY IMAGINATIVE (it was also done with such
‘taste’ that EVEN a disabled person would have laughed)!.
Another
quoted the musical as being “....a synthetic genre” - Clearly he
hates musicals and should have had the guts to decline the assignment and sent
one of his assistants someone who at least knew the genre - which far from
being ‘synthetic’ is one of the most difficult to stage
successfully in the theatre. Any idiot can write a play (many have!) but to
marry three performing arts (music, dance and drama) into a cohesive work - is
(when successful) sheer genius! He appears to be suggesting that the two multi
millionaires who have made their livelihoods through composing (in the one case
and producing in the other) are ‘synthetic’ too
??? I would suggest that in his case THE CRITIC is the
‘synthetic’ one, completely out of his depth, clearly didn’t
understand what “THE FIX” was all about and based his review on the
programme notes!
Another
(presumably profoundly deaf critic) wrote that “THE FIX” was a
“.....rock opera”. So where was he when the country and western,
Broadway show-stopper, torch songs and ‘revivalist’ numbers were
being performed ? - in the
bar I suspect!!!
Yet
another used the word “Camelot” (presumably this was the last
musical he saw!) - well at least I’ll give this
one credit for realising that the whole show was about the (as we now know)
corrupt ‘Kennedy Dynasty’. But to use “CAMELOT” as
presumably a so-called pun ("Camelot" being the successor to "My
Fair Lady") - he couldn’t have been around when that show was staged
at Drury Lane - otherwise he’d have realised he was doing “THE
FIX” a favour - “Camelot” - the musical was simply a carbon
copy of “M.F.L.” set in King Arthur’s time! An extremely poor
musical!!!
Another
dared to equate the wonderfully biting satire of the book and lyrics as
“....scathing as a rather blunt safety pin” !
Well - I’d love to stick that pin right where it counts!!! - and to think
that I praised this man’s directing ability when Battersea Arts Centre
turned the tables on the critics and gave them a chance to direct plays. I
think maybe this particular critic should continue with his new career of
directing - since he is clearly past his sell-by date as an unbiased
‘critic’.
Yet
another, who also tried his hand at directing at the B.A.C. - can’t tell
rock from country and western - but then his directorial debut was, in my
opinion, such a debacle that I would totally discount his criticism of
anything!!!!
Finally,
one ‘critic’ proved his total lack of knowledge of the musical
theatre by trammelling on and on with comparisons between “THE FIX”
score and Stephen Sondheim. I happen to be a Sondheim aficionado and would
suggest he gets one or two facts straight. Stephen’s second solo Broadway
show produced in 1964, “Anyone Can Whistle”, was an absolute flop,
running for 9 performances only - it has since gone on to achieve
‘cult’ status ! Years later he still writes non-commercial
shows - which although due to the rabid New York ‘CRITICS’ are
counted as ‘flops’ - these shows, however, due to the discerning
public, live on in the form of the recordings and eventually are successfully
revived, thus proving that they are works of ‘genius’.
In 100 years time these shows will still be being played around the
world.
EVERY SINGLE PRINTED WORD WRITTEN BY A
LONDON CRITIC ENDS UP IN THE TRASH CAN THE FOLLOWING DAY - SO MUCH FOR THEIR IMMORTALITY !
I had
thought that in this country we believed in ‘fair play’ - what most
of the critics did to the team which brought “THE FIX” to the stage
was savage, uncalled for, bitchy, and showed their total ignorance of the piece
and to keep referring to the creators as “two American unknowns”
was just ill-mannered, ignorant and rude! It was as if they all got together in
the bar at the Interval, decided en masse what they were going to say and
presumably left the Donmar on their respective broomsticks shrieking
“I’ll get you and your little dog too”!
A WORD OF WARNING TO THE PRINTED PRESS
CRITICS (THE DINOSAURS) - YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED
!!!
I have a
background of over 35 years in and around the theatre and in particular the
musical theatre. Most of the ‘CRITICS’ who work for the soon to be
defunct printed press as a means of obtaining Theatre ‘reviews’
will thankfully soon be looking for other jobs. With the growing popularity of
the Internet as a means of communication - they are ostriches with their heads
firmly buried in the sand - for too long the theatre-goer have ‘hung on
their every word’ and believed what they have told us. We live in a much
more enlightened age and have the power to judge for ourselves, it is therefore
time to put the ‘critic’ in his place - usually as a failed
‘wannabe’ actor, director or whatever.
Why they
should assume that they still have the right to destroy, simply for column
inches (and, mainly their own egos) is beyond credibility, but then as I have
said previously they are employed as ‘CRITICS’ and like other
‘would-be dictators’ - they ‘assume’ that what they say
is correct, should be adhered to and audiences should, like children’ do
as they are told and not judge for themselves - that time has long since gone.
This is
one of the reasons why I abhor the word “CRITIC” - they are not
objective but destructive. They ‘bleat’ like sheep about no new
talent and immediately trample on it when it appears, rambling on incessantly,
knowing little or nothing about the ‘work’ they are supposed to be
reviewing. The more obtuse their comments and the larger the words they are
able to use in their reviews are a perfect give-away as to how little they
really know. I have seen many a ‘CRITIC’ actually leave the theatre
(presumably for the pub) at the Interval and yet next day a so-called
‘complete’ review appears in the printed press. THIS IS A COP-OUT.
To use a lyric from the incomparable
Mr. Sondheim - the printed press critics are: “The Dinosaurs
surviving the crunch!” - but hopefully, for
not much longer.
For more details or individual advice/help - email:
GPowner@aol.com