Metacriticism: Making Lemonade Out of A Lemon Review
What do you do with a negative review? Burn it? Ignore it? Paper the critic’s house? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to do this.) Get creative with captions?: “Read what the critics are not saying about…” It is never easy to be on the receiving end of a negative review. Trust me, I know firsthand. … Read more
Playwrite and Review with Caution
I don’t know how I missed this St. Pete Times article by critic John Fleming from January 2009 on the ethical complexity of an individual working as both a playwright and a critic, but it is an interesting read as are the responses it elicited, particularly Michael Feingold’s. The debate was sparked by concerns about … Read more
‘Tis the Season for “A Doll’s House” at Dramaworks (Review)
‘Tis the Season for “A Doll’s House” at Dramaworks (Review) ‘Tis the season for A Doll’s House, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s classic portrait of nineteenth century marriage and gender roles that unfolds on Christmas Eve and Christmas day in 1879, also the year in which it was written and first staged. The title’s significance, broached by Nora … Read more
Theresa Rebeck’s “Bad Dates”
Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates A bad date would probably have been less painful, and certainly more dramatic, than sitting through the current Stageworks production of Rebeck’s one-woman show, Bad Dates, which opened this past Thursday and runs through December 6th at the Shimberg Playhouse at the Straz Center (formerly Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center). In spite … Read more
Critics Center Stage, Still
Critics Center Stage, Still “The great misapprehension that shrouds the association’s code of practice is the belief that critics are part of the theatre community and that we should do everything in our power to encourage and support it. That is wrong. We are observers, not participants, and our only loyalty should be to our … Read more
More on Critics
More on Critics Given all the recent blog discussion here and elsewhere about theatre critics, I thought I’d post some links to organizations for critics: American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) The ATCA currently has 267 members. From what I can gather, 110 of the 267 are women; almost half isn’t half bad. International Association of … Read more
Redemption for Dowd?
Redemption for Dowd? I’ve read less of Maureen Dowd’s Op-Eds lately because, well, quite frankly, I got bored with them. Over the summer, I found myself becoming less interested in her own words and, instead, becoming more lost in the dramatic and entertaining comments (always several hundred) that her pieces elicited. For instance, while a … Read more
Older Means of Reviewing No Longer Worth Its Weight in Stars?
“Older Means of Reviewing No Longer Worth Its Weight in Stars?” Below is an excerpt from John Ellingsworth’s most recent post “Could Twitter Spell the End of Star Ratings?” on The Guardian theatre blog, and it’s worth a read, particularly if you have been following last week’s conversation over at the Parabasis blog about the (de)merits … Read more
