tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post5636597979717193392..comments2023-09-20T14:34:21.102+02:00Comments on Postcards from the Gods: Pre-Edinburgh preambleAndrew Haydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-38164535314684968012007-08-29T15:05:00.000+02:002007-08-29T15:05:00.000+02:00But who's going to explain Michael Coveney? That's...But who's going to explain Michael Coveney? That's what I'd like to know...Andrew Haydonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-22241029356750685452007-08-28T22:47:00.000+02:002007-08-28T22:47:00.000+02:00I think that's rather a counsel of despair as rega...I think that's rather a counsel of despair as regards theatre criticism. You, like me, have heard Robert Hewison talking about how a review can (and usually should) place its subject work both horizontally in the context of the theatre and society of the moment and vertically in terms of various histories from those of its ctreators to, er, history. And still the most succinct description of the critic's function that I've ever heard is Michael Coveney's: "to explain culture to itself". You do what you can: you know it'll never be the last word, especially not with the length restrictions on print pieces, but it can be, uh, word.<BR/><BR/>Conversely, my own semi-direct experience of TV critics - nearly a decade ago now, though - when they reviewed a programme on which Jon Ronson created a tissue of mendacity about me after fly-on-the-walling me doing a show of my own in Edinburgh... anyway, I was shocked at precisely how little they did other than reporting and witticising about what was presented onstage. Only two even remotely questioned the programme's own structure and concern, and one of those was AA Gill who'd probably just decided that Ronson made a more appetising target than me.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, what I meantersay, Pip old chap, is that speed and immediacy of comment doesn't equate to value thereof.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-23579231757652555712007-08-14T01:49:00.000+02:002007-08-14T01:49:00.000+02:00That pic of Billington is very very funny, I laugh...That pic of Billington is very very funny, I laughed out loud.<BR/><BR/>Agree about the collective sense of TV as opposed to theatre. If only all reviews reflected a more considered intelligent edge, some of the Edinburgh reviews I have been reading are no nore than a few lines (is that worthwhile? How can we possibly get anything other than brutal like or dislike from that?)Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17789034764982239963noreply@blogger.com