There was a tiny respite from the current critical schedule yesterday when, at less than 24 hours notice, the press performance for the Old Vic’s Cinderella yesterday was suddenly cancelled owing to the reported indisposition of Sandi Toksvig, and although there is an understudy, a statement was issued that declared, “We felt that, in fairness to the company and to the production, the show should be reviewed, as rehearsed, with Sandi in this central role”. I wasn’t going anyway – I was already committed to an event with my partner’s family, so had booked to go this Thursday afternoon instead, which may indeed turn into the new press performance! That, of course, was itself freed up by the second postponment of the Menier Chocolate Factory’s currently-previewing La Cage Aux Folles, which was originally going to open on December 3, got moved to this Thursday, and has now been moved again to January (in this case because of the illness of Douglas Hodge).
But its indicative of the juggling that has to happen at this time of the year that things are so pressurised already that there’s hardly any slack in the system.
Tomorrow, for instance, there are at least four significant clashes: Bill Kenwright’s new production of Absurd Person Singular goes head-to-head with the Menier’s transfer of Dealer’s Choice to the Trafalgar Studios, while two rival Cinderella’s open at Richmond and Stratford East respectively. You can’t be everywhere; but of course I like to be! So I have, since Friday and for the next fortnight, been doing two (and on Wednesday, three) show days as a matter of course. Mind you, as the show count goes up, my personal patience threshold diminishes, and on Friday, having had a great time at the Hackney panto in the afternoon, I fled my evening performance of the Drill Hall’s Bitch Slapped by God at the interval. I am under enough time (and space) pressure as it is, so leaving early means I won’t review it.
Such considerations, of course, don’t inhibit the likes of the West End Whingers, who have made it a frequent habit to vote with their feet; but then that’s a privilege of their self-appointed office – having paid for their tickets, they are perfectly entitled to do so. As a critic, you are duty-bound to stay put if you are writing a review, but I chose to leave and spare both the theatre and myself that! A slow week might, if I needed to see the show to fill out a column, have kept me there out of necessity; but in this case the slow show didn’t require me to persist with it. (Poor Paul Vale, reviewing for The Stage at the Drill Hall last Friday, had to return to the auditorium alone; I wasn’t the only critic to leave!)
But in the midst of the massive pressure on time and space, I am being necessarily selective in how I use both. Some papers have multiple critics, of course, to spead the load between them; The Stage’s matchless national coverage can only be achieved by the huge spread of reviewers it has in every city. But working, as I do, as the sole critic for a national title, I have to try to embrace as much as I can alone – not to mention to stay as fresh and receptive as I can along the way.
Mark - the West End Whingers are SO proud of you for voting with your feet. We've heard nothing but horror stories about Bitch Slapped by God to the degree that we are thinking of going to see half of it.
On a less happy note, we have tickets to see Sandi Toksvig (not) in Cinderella tomorrow night and are devastated by your news so when you're there, please ask Kev for a couple of free tickets for us. Thanks.