Thursday, December 17, 2009
Feedback: Just hire a drama critic
Post Gazette: "The Post-Gazette needs a drama critic. The current melange of reviewers leaves this theater lover heartsick and confused. In a city with a wealth of rich dramatic productions, the Post-Gazette's lack of a drama critic is unforgivable."
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2 comments:
This article brings up the challenge that I think most critics face; the difference between their opinion and an unbiased review. Pittsburgh seems to have a history of attracting theatrical reviewers that have a hard time separating their feelings from their thoughts, and it constantly seems to get them in trouble. What I find surprising, is that this void in the paper staff has not been filled already. While it's a hard job, their are probably enough unfortunate out of work newspaper employees that this job should probably have been easily filled.
It's not so important that a reviewer be unbiased (who can truly be unbiased when it comes to anything subjective?) but moreso that the biases are known and consistent. If you have a reviewer who hates musicals then you come to know that any review of a musical that says it's horrible might not really be so bad, and a review of one that says it was ok might be high praise. It's close to what the PG has for a restaurant critic - she took over and started reviewing restaurants as if she had Michelin stars to hand out - any restaurant with imperfections in service or a less than stellar appetizer will be rated down for that, but readers know that. If she says a restaurant is good then it's almost certain to be good, but if she doesn't like it then it might also be good. Readers might not agree with every review, but they know how to interpret them. If there was a consistent theater reviewer then the same thing could happen there as well.
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