I have commented before here about how theatre critics are sometimes left chasing their tails over clashing first nights and the sheer quantity of new productions that are available to review every week. Though the ‘broadsheet’ national dailies mostly still retain two staff theatre critics, the Sundays — of which I am one — are one-man (or rather, mostly one-woman) bands. And quite apart from the pressures of time to do it all alone, there’s also the immense pressure of space in which to cover what we actually get to see anyway. Several of my Sunday colleagues simply adopt a practical strategy: they will only ever see three shows in a week, or four at an absolute push, and that’s that. The rest must fall by the wayside.
But if we’re having to be necessarily selective, it was interesting to see that for film critics it’s potentially even worse. According to a feature in The Observer yesterday, Jason Solomons writes that “during the past two months films have come not as weekly releases but as a deluge. I have counted 109 in my diary since the beginning of March. A fortnight ago, no fewer than 12 films were released.”
In a paragraph that I entirely identified with, he writes, “I’ve hardly got time to see them all and it’s my job, so Lord knows how you, the occasional moviegoer or even the most avid cinephile, can keep up.” And he gets to the nub of the problem that results, which again has resonances for those of us covering a saturated theatre beat: “Weeks during which 12 films are released seem to me to be to no one’s advantage. Critics, stuck for space, either ignore a few of the lower profile releases (this goes for the quality press as well as the tabloids) or they barely have room to write the title, mention a couple of actors and say something pithy, damning or otherwise. Editors, like cinema owners, want something flashy with which to lead their pages, so the quieter, perhaps better-quality films without big star photos to illustrate them, tend to get little room.”
But at least films have a potentially limitless shelf life, regardless of their initial reception or lack of it, thanks to DVD, and may one day find their audience. There’s no such luxury for the ignored theatre production: it’s here today, gone tomorrow. And it’s distressing sometimes to have to merely offer a few encouraging words to a show at the Lyric Hammersmith, Gate, Menier, Bush or Royal Court Upstairs, in the midst of longer reviews for the latest star vehicles in the West End. But I do, at least, try to get to as many of them as I can, whether or not I can actually do them justice in print. At least, as Jason suggests, I can pithily mention them.
As with the Edinburgh Fringe, it’s impossible to see everything on the London circuit, let alone trying to get to the regions as well from time to time, as I also do. Good work surely gets lost; but somehow, as with Edinburgh, a consensus does seem to emerge that brings the best things to attention.
