Here are five questions to ask about a cabaret show. If they all get a ‘yes’, the show gets five stars.
Not Television’s top 10 posts of 2014
A round-up of 10 favourite blog posts from Not Television’s first year, 2014, on subjects including Mat Fraser, Alternative Miss World, Leake St graffiti tunnel and the threat of luxury redevelopment
Critics are not parents, publicists or parasites. Here’s what we are.
An overview of some of the misconceptions about the cultural role of critics as expressed in several shows at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe, including The Reviewers, Critical! and No Turn Unstoned by Diana Rigg
The only five words you need to handle a bad review
With the Edinburgh Fringe just around the corner, there are plenty of performers out there bracing for the most intense experience of the year. And along with the pressures of having to create, perfect and publicise your show, there’s another looming challenge: what if you get a bad review? It’s something I’ve thought about as […]
Critic pride! Reclaiming the ‘c’-word in my new ebook on criticism
I used to be wary of describing myself as a critic. It just sounds mean, or like you know better than everyone else. But I’ve thought about it and these days, it’s a term I embrace: critic and proud! The reason for this is pretty much the same straightforward reason a lot of us still […]
Everyone’s a critic – info on my Guardian Masterclass
Of course, everyone’s a critic these days. It used to be that only professionally snide, hoity-toity snobs got to do criticism – like Anton Ego, the restaurant critic in the animated movie Ratatouille. Look at him, with his arched eyebrow and nose made to look down, his skull-like typewriter and sharp-angled accoutrements, all set to […]
