Should critics stop reviewing art being made in lockdown because no one is doing well and everyone is fragile? Laura Kressly explores the issues.
Most of the time critics and artists get on and do their respective things – artists make and share their art, critics then evaluate, contextualise and describe it. But there’s an uneasy tension between them, and conflict occasionally flares. When it does, it can be the stuff of legends. Historical bust-ups like David Storey’s 1976 swing for Michael Billington in the Royal Court bar, or not physically violent but still-cutting comments like Nick Hytner calling critics “dead, white men” in 2007, were hot topics in the press at the time and are still remembered today.
Given that Twitter has been the digital home of theatre discourse for some years now, it’s the arena where the ‘critics versus artists’ debate tends to pop up every few months or so. Arguments are often formulaic and repetitive, indicating long-running problems that haven’t been resolved... Keep reading on Wales Arts Review
Most of the time critics and artists get on and do their respective things – artists make and share their art, critics then evaluate, contextualise and describe it. But there’s an uneasy tension between them, and conflict occasionally flares. When it does, it can be the stuff of legends. Historical bust-ups like David Storey’s 1976 swing for Michael Billington in the Royal Court bar, or not physically violent but still-cutting comments like Nick Hytner calling critics “dead, white men” in 2007, were hot topics in the press at the time and are still remembered today.
Given that Twitter has been the digital home of theatre discourse for some years now, it’s the arena where the ‘critics versus artists’ debate tends to pop up every few months or so. Arguments are often formulaic and repetitive, indicating long-running problems that haven’t been resolved... Keep reading on Wales Arts Review