RE: RAT oh my!

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

The critic has a certain number of column inches (or airtime) to fill, and a publication/program that has a particular target audience (which may have a certain arts-ideological slant, viz The Voice).

If s/he has a fair amount of space and a theater-literate audience, then the critic is likely to put the production into context for the prospective audience-- both in terms of recent similar productions and how the author/production fits into the history of theatre.

The more "important" the publication/program (meaning, the wider or more influential the audience) the more likely the critic will understand that they are writing for posterity, and the more likely that theatre-history-comparison references will be made -- especially when it comes to new work.

I personally make the distinction between world-class productions (meaning cast/direction/author/design) -- where I'm likely to be historical and demanding ... (I panned both A Chorus Line and Angels in America and was actually shunned in public for a bit :) ), and .... productions which have limited resources. In the latter case, if it's a new play/performance, I tend to focus on the writing, and if the work is "well known" I'll try to make comments that will tip off the audience and at the same time be helpful to the cast/director/designer. (The last isn't easy to do tactfully.)

If a play has substantial problems, I'll try to get out of criticizing it altogether, or will focus entirely on putting in into context with enough "danger-don'ts" to warn off the segment of the audience who might actually listen to what I have to say:).
(With Equity rehearsal periods being so brief, and not all productions workshopped, it gets more and more difficult to do "opening night" reviews -- even when work has been in previews for a week.  This isn't a new phenomenon. I remember a production of "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" [Shaw potboiler] in London which starred Ingrid Bergman and other luminaries. They had rehearsed ala opera and, apparently, someone had switched the positions of the multiple swinging doors from their rehearsal positions. Get the picture :) )

Cheers,
Cat Hebert





---------------------------------------
To [un]subscribe to the rat-list, send an email to "majordomo@ratconference.com"
with [un]subscribe rat-list" in the body of the message.
For information on other functions send a message containing the word
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
---------------------------------------
You may also [un]subscribe on the web at http://www.ratconference.com/cgi-bin/web_domo.pl?list=rat-list