That Was the Week That Was….

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The week in theatre tweets, columns and reviews in London, the regions, Broadway and birthdays

May 23-29

Critics, it seems, are no longer allowed to criticise. Or, if we do, we need to stick to a prescribed lane that someone deems is our only business (which is to review the show, not the circumstances of its presentation), and not to have an opinion on how or why the show has come to the theatre in the first place. Yet I’ve always taken a keen interest in this backstage, behind-the-scenes world of the business of show.

A “producer” — one of six entities billed on the title page — asked out loud after I queried just why Death Drop took such a large team to produce,

And them someone else checked suggesting this wasn’t my business to enquire about in any case. But as I replied, it is indeed relevant:

At which point another of the show’s many producers offered this helpful note:

Yet another (I told you there were quite a bundle) said:

But then everyone’s a critic — of every tweet, it sometimes seems. When I offered an announcement about a new show, one of the authors corrected the information I’d posted, pointing out she also co-wrote the music. Actually, it was the press release that gave me that information.

MY COLUMNS AND REVIEWS OF THE WEEK

  • Wednesday May 26

My column for today is here:
https://shentonstage.com/may-26-the-shows-must-go-on/

  • Thursday May 27

My column for today is here:

https://shentonstage.com/may-27-shooting-the-messenger

  • Saturday May 29
    My column for today is here:

https://shentonstage.com/may-29-my-depression-anniversary/

REVIEW TWEETS OF THE WEEK
Reviews come in all shapes and sizes — Twitter, of course, is a form of micro- blogging; it’s also a form of micro-reviewing. As I run my own platform here now, I can choose how and what and where I review things. Sometimes it will be in the usual form of a standard review. At other times, a show may prompt a column, instead of a review, like Death Drop at the Garrick, which I wrote about on Friday (above). While at yet other times, I’ll just tweet (as I also did for Death Drop the night before, which will itself sometimes provoke an instant reaction from readers, or dialogue with a show’s producers, as outlined at the top of this column).

Reviewing by tweet is an art in itself: partly its live reaction, or stream-of-consciousness, an immediate response I formulate as soon as I get to my device (phone or laptop) and start writing; partly its engagement (or enragement), with those who agree or disagree with me. There’s certainly more conversation that typically takes place around a conventional review.

  • Monday: Intermissions Live (Vaudeville Theatre)
  • Wednesday May 26: Here Come The Boys (London Palladium)
  • Thursday May 27: Death Drop (Garrick Theatre)
  • Friday May 28: Public Domain (Vaudeville)
  • Saturday May 29: Tony! (Turbine Theatre)
  • Saturday May 29: Walden (Pinter Theatre)

LONDON HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

  • Monday May 24
  • Tuesday May 25
*
  • Thursday May 27
  • Friday May 28

REGIONAL HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

BROADWAY HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

EXECUTIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE WEEK:

COVID NEWS TWEETS OF THE WEEK

THEATRE BIRTHDAYS OF THE WEEK

  • Tuesday May 25
  • Wednesday May 26
  • Thursday May 27
  • Friday May 28
  • Saturday May 29

AND FINALLY, SOME FAVOURITE PERSONAL TWEETS OF THE WEEK (both mine and others)

  • Sunday May 23
  • Monday May 24
  • Friday May 28
  • Saturday May 29:

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