THEATRE CRITICISM i ii THEATRE CRITICISM CHANGING LANDSCAPES Duška Radosavljević Bloomsbury Methuen Drama An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY iii Bloomsbury Methuen Drama An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Imprint previously known as Methuen Drama 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York W C 1B 3D P NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2016 © Duška Radosavljevi c´ , 2016 Duška Radosavljevic ´ has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN : H B : 978-1-4725-7864-8 PB : 978-1-4725-7709-2 e PDF : 978-1-4725-7710-8 ePub: 978-1-4725-7711-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Illustration by Alice Marwick Cover design by Eleanor Rose Typeset by Refi neCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk iv CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii List of Contributors x 1 Th eatre Criticism: Changing Landscapes Duška Radosavljević 1 Part I Contexts and Histories of Th eatre Criticism 2 Style Versus Substance: American Th eatre Criticism Since 1945 George Hunka 39 3 Th e Problem of Reliability: Th eatre Criticism in Latvia V alda Čakare 51 4 From the Uncritical Certainties of Modernism to the Critical Uncertainties of Postmodernism: Reviewing Th eatre in Greece Savas Patsalidis 68 5 Russian Th eatre Criticism: In Search of Contemporary Relevance Kristina Matvienko 85 6 How to Get Your Hands Dirty: Old and New Models of ‘Militant’ Th eatre Criticism in Italy Margherita Laera 99 7 What German Th eatre Critics Th ink and What Th eir Readers Expect: An Empirical Analysis of Misunderstandings Vasco Boenisch 118 v Contents 8 A Brief History of Online Th eatre Criticism in England A ndrew Haydon 135 Part II Critics’ Voices 9 Do Th ey Mean Me? A Survey of Fictional Th eatre Critics Mark Fisher 155 10 Between Journalism and Art: Th e Location of Criticism in the Twenty-First Century M ark Brown 170 11 Code-Switching and Constellations: On Feminist Th eatre Criticism J ill Dolan 187 12 Th e Critic as Insider: Shift ing UK Critical Practice Towards ‘Embedded’ Relationships and the Routes Th is Opens Up Towards Dialogue and Dramaturgy Maddy Costa 201 Part III Changing Forms and Functions of Criticism 13 Criticism as a Political Event D iana Damian Martin 219 14 Conversation and Criticism: Audiences and Unfi nished Critical Th inking M atthew Reason 236 15 Crowdsourcing the Review and the Record: A Collaborative Approach to Th eatre Criticism and Archiving in the Digital Age Michelle MacArthur 255 16 Articism (Art + Criticism) and the Live Birds of Passionate Response Nataša Govedić 273 17 Performative Criticism and Creative Critical Writing William McEvoy 291 vi Contents Part IV Samples of Critical Practice 18 How to Th ink Like a Th eatre Critic A lison Croggon 309 19 NOTA Open Dialogues 312 20 Huff Alice Saville 317 21 Teh Internet is a Serious Business M egan Vaughan 325 Index 329 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years at the University of Kent, I have encountered growing enthusiasm among students for the subject of Th eatre Criticism. Partly as a result of theirs and partly as a result of my own interest, in March 2011, I organized a research symposium entitled ‘What is Th eatre Criticism For?’, which featured the Kent alumni Lyn Gardner and Mark Fisher, my colleague and co- teacher of the subject Patrick Marmion, scholar Paul Prescott, and Irving Wardle, former critic and the author of what appeared to be the latest and most infl uential book on the subject, published in 1992. Sponsored by the Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities ( KIASH ), European Th eatre Research Network ( ETRN ) and the School of Arts, the event was surprisingly well attended with many audience members – students, scholars, theatre and media professionals – travelling in from London and even further afi eld. I take this opportunity to say thank you for pointing out to me the need for a book like this one to everyone involved on that occasion – students, panellists, audience members, colleagues and sponsors, as well as Talia Rodgers of Routledge who was also present and supportive of the project from the start. Th e necessity for this book became even more apparent to me during the Unpack the Arts European Residency Programme for Cultural Journalists at the New Circus Festival in Zagreb in 2012. Even though, sadly, none of the participants of that residency (except Nataša Govedić who we met as part of the programme) have contributed to this book, the cultural and discursive diversity I experienced at the meeting was deeply inspiring and infl uential for the development of this idea, so I thank everyone who has made this possible. Special thanks are due for the enthusiastic and warm support of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, particularly editor Anna Brewer and her colleagues, as well as the anonymous readers who provided valuable feedback. One of them, Karen Fricker, has gracefully stepped outside of the cloak of anonymity to become a valuable collaborator, viii Acknowledgements adviser, editorial consultant and draft reader on this project – for which I remain indebted and hopeful that our conversations continue for many years to come. In addition to Karen, I am grateful to Andrew Haydon, David Roesner and Tatiana Oskolkova for recommending and brokering relationships with particular contributors and interviewees on my behalf. My admission into the International Association of Th eatre Critics has also been hugely helpful in sourcing some of the contributions, so thank you Ian Herbert and Mark Brown for endorsing my membership. It is with great regret that I acknowledge the input of contributors whose work, for one reason or another, did not make it into the fi nal version of the manuscript: Ian Herbert, Polly Carl, Nicholas de Jongh, Paul Prescott, Yohann Floch, Maka Vasadze, Holger Syme, Dan Rebellato, Catherine Love and Stewart Pringle. Let’s hope there will be a second volume, or at least some other opportunities for collaboration on this subject. Lyn Gardner, Andrew Dickson, Alistair Smith, Andrzej Lukowski and Anne Peter have all generously contributed their valuable time in agreeing to be interviewed as part of my research – I am grateful to them and to Elly Hopkins who has painstakingly transcribed their words. In the area of fi eld research, special thanks are also due to Catherine Comerford, former Executive Director of Th e Stage and Scott Matthewman, former online editor at Th e Stage , Natasha Tripney, founding editor of E xeunt , and Jake Orr, co- founder of A Younger Th eatre for providing historical information about their respective publications. All contributors to the volume have my eternal gratitude for their stimulating ideas, insights, patience, responsiveness and spirit of generosity, even when my requests might have been ill- timed and overly fastidious. I’d like to thank Paul Allain, Cecilia Sayad and Karen Fricker for their close reading and extremely valuable comments on my introductory essay. In addition, I owe my thanks to George Rodosthenous for over fi ft een years of tireless support, patient advice and helpful feedback on everything I do. Last but not least, love and thanks to Tobi, Joakim, Katarina and my parents for making it all possible. ix