Review of On Criticism & Critics from the theatre dance and drama in Wales web site

New Critics Programme Gathering

On Criticism & Critics

National Theatre of Wales/ Literature Wales , Dora Stoutzker Hall, RWCMD , October 7, 2011

The venue, the Royal College, for the critical gathering brought the visitors out in admiration. That the terrace looked out on the trees of Bute Park in an eighty-degree temperature certainly helped.

Cultures speak through their buildings. It is fitting that the first great building into London from Heathrow should be the HQ of the mighty GlaxoSmithKline.

It is emblematic that Cardiff’s first building to catch the eye coming in on the A470 should be one devoted to the performing arts.

All assembled were in assent; good commentary requires a good theatre to respond to, and vice versa. Criticism is not good for the individual work. It can be calamitous for the artist who has spent three, six, nine months on a work and for it be dismantled by a stranger who has spent of a couple of hours in its watching.

But criticism, bad for the individual piece, is good for the genre. The worst of commentators are peacocks of self-display. A common characteristic of those who matter- whether it be film, visual arts, performance- is that they care.

The writers from Wales see the work here through a different lens from the writers from London. The London critics possess their far greater awareness of theatre in England and elsewhere.

But they will not see theatre that inhabits a Pembrokeshire farm, a Valleys ‘Stute, or a Gwynedd coastal town with the same layer of experience and familiarity.

All praise then to National Theatre of Wales, management and Board alike, for generating their cluster of commentators, who turned out to be anything but docile and house-trained.

A speaker declared theatre in Wales to be in a state of sickness. A dramatist from the floor spoke of a culture in fracture. Maybe so. Maybe, according to another contributor, the last eighteen months have produced as great a variety as anywhere in Europe. .

One of the most insightful comments came from Arwel Gruffydd. In the international melee that is Edinburgh, Theatr Genedlaethol is just another company. The language is just another language; with the surtitles the audience doesn’t care.

The young writers travelled from Bridgend, London, Yorkshire’s East Riding. The Arts Council of Wales was there. Theatr Genedlaethol was there.

On a hot Saturday in their own time representative writers from Guardian Media Group, News International and International Herald Tribune travelled to Cardiff. Aleks Sierz, who probably knows more about new drama than anyone in Britain, made the trip.

They came because they felt there was something in theatre in Wales worth listening to, theatre-makers and theatre-writers worth talking to. They came on journeys that lasted for hours. The women and men of Mold can be excused; they are a ten hour round trip away, and should be judged on their works. Senghenydd Road is a distance of an eight-minute walk away. No-one from the Sherman was present.

Reviewed by: Adam Somerset

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On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (11 July 2024)
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On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (25 January 2020)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (12 January 2020)
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On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (10 October 2019)
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On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (08 June 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (01 June 2019)
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On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (28 February 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (23 January 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (22 January 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (19 January 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (16 January 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (07 January 2019)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (24 December 2018)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (19 December 2018)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (17 December 2018)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (08 January 2018)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (20 December 2016)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (03 August 2016)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (11 March 2016)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (20 December 2013)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (03 September 2013)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (29 August 2013)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (04 July 2013)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (20 November 2012)
On Criticism & Critics- reviewed by Adam Somerset (10 June 2012)

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