New Poll - To crit or not to crit

My dictionary defines a critic as one who is skilled in judging the qualities and merits of a thing, or as one who judges captiously (difficult to please, making much of trivial faults), or censures and finds fault. A critique is defined as an article or essay criticising a work: a review.

As an amateur (extremely!) actor, with absolutely no training, I would hate to be judged according to the same standards as a WAPA student or graduate, for their enforced standards are necessarily high, the value of the strategy evident in terms of graduate career success. But if I accept a role in a play where tickets are sold to the public, I donÂ’t feel I have the right to plead for mercy, or the application of different critique standards.

I would imagine, given that their duty of care must first and foremost be to their readers and listeners, the great dilemma for critics, is how to approach the performances of small and or amateur theatre groups, regardless of the meritorious arguments of inadequate funding and the moral need to encourage. A treacherous path in a small village.

I have seen first hand the effects of an overly savage review on people I have come to love as friends and admire as performers, however, IÂ’ve reached the conclusion IÂ’d rather face expert criticism, than nurture faults and bad techniques. I also suspect, that where two independent critics have a similar view of a production, (good or bad), then one must consider there is substance to their comments.

My only caution to critics, is to refrain from commenting on anything other than the performance, production and venue and to find the most civilised and compassionate way to couch constructive criticism. Perhaps I can illustrate this as follows:

“ … far too much screaming and shouting made the words impossible to decipher. I couldn’t hear anything.”
This could be:
“It’s a difficult theatre acoustically and some in the cast seem not to have heeded the director’s instructions to resist the temptation to shout and concentrate on enunciating slowly and clearly.”

Whilst accepting that some productions will always be abysmal and perhaps the kindest thing for all concerned would be an instant death, the most constructive, wonderful gift of knowledge and dignity an expert critic could give, on concluding that a production was basically sound, but with serious flaws, would be to privately contact the director and offer to assist with advice, if it would be acceptable.

So far in my ridiculously short time, stumbling across the feet of proper actors, I have learnt from and appreciated criticism from Geoff Gibbs – (I knew instinctively he was right about my lapsing into inaudible delivery), learnt from my fellow actors, learnt from the directors and learnt from the audience.

I have also learnt as an audience member. I came away from “Skin Tight” hoping that one day, I just might be lucky enough to be involved in and capable of giving a performance to the standard I witnessed. I came away from the theatre that night, as my own worst critic.
All Good Things
Greg Ross