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From Dave Windass

As a regional arts journalist and a reviewer for The Stage I read with interest Sue Robertson?s thoughts on the role of the critic (ArtsProfessional issue 70, March 22, p5). No critic, certainly none that I know of, ever attempts to offer an objective analysis. By its very nature what we do is highly subjective. But the role is an important one. Without us, the dreadful flam of marketing officers with an eye firmly on footfall and box office receipts would be the only means by which to make a choice. We at least help strike a balance and bring some semblance of sense.

The truth of the worth of a production, if you are a canny enough theatre-goer that cross-references reviews, is generally somewhere between the PR guff and the venom that people like myself are prone to spit. And, more than occasionally, we are a breed that gets it wrong. Odd, though, that Sue seems unaware of who critics are and where they come from and, for that matter, how appointments are made at newspapers. Could she not have contacted a few of us to ask? We are hardly hiding away, given that we crave bylines for our damning words. As for new voices with a wider age range and cultural backgrounds, I am aware, as Sue would have been had she taken the trouble to find out, that such reviewers already exist and that Michael Billington, Charles Spencer et al are not the be-all and end-all of criticism. I worked in the building trade for nine years, a trade that has proved an invaluable grounding for cutting through the pretentious nonsense that abounds in the world of theatre. We rarely see an advert for an arts critic in the national press because the job is still regarded by many an editor as a role for trainee reporters, and continues to be a low-paid, thankless pursuit ? albeit one that comes in handy when a marketing department requires a puff quote for their posters.