I’ve been a bit tardy with the blogging - failing to keep up with the modest pace set by Anna. To be completely honest I didn’t really know what to write about. I had a couple of ideas but none really appealed so I didn’t bother, thinking better not to blog at all if it’s only going to be half-arsed (although I’m not sure this was the right decision). Anyway, I’m blogging now.
I went to see a play last night. It was a performance of Romeo and Juliet performed by an all-female cast of six. It was really good and really cleverly done. Each cast member played several characters (apart from Juliet who was played by the same actor the whole time), often swapping who played which role - the character they were playing was represented by an article of clothing rather than a particular actor. I felt it worked well and was effective and entertaining, only once did I think it compromised the performance (removal of the few lines near the end when Juliet kisses Romeo’s lips longing for some remains of the poison due to Romeo at this stage being just a flannelette shirt). I came away thinking I should see theatre performances more often.
However, this post is not a review. Aside from the fact that nothing I write could really adequately describe the play last night, the mere act of trying to describe it somehow cheapens it. It seems to me that to write a review is to have some motive - the reviewer is either wanting to convince people to go to the movie/performance/art or dissuade them from going (or perhaps have even more sinister motives such as wanting to portray the creators in a bad light). Rarely is the tone of a review such that its intention is just to inform (although I think Roger Ebert’s reviews come close to this ideal). They are also a very personal thing - it’s absurd to read a review without knowing the reviewer. This is why At the Movies works so well - it’s clear that different people like different things and see things in different ways - without knowing the author of the review it’s impossible to give the review any credence.
Additionally, many reviews are hogwash and not at all true reports of a performance or piece of media. Only this morning on my twitter Graham Linehan has retweeted a link by Roger Ebert to a story describing how Variety will remove anything bad said about a film so long as they are paid enough money. There are notable occurrences of this happening in the video game industry too. “So what?” One might ask - surely this sort of thing happens all the time and must have been happening for as long as there have been performances and art to review. Probably, but reviews are the sort of thing which must be honest in order to be relevant otherwise it’s just PR.