Broadway Blog - Drunk Critics & Misleading Ads

Well, here's a new 'problem' -- or, actually, probably A VERY OLD 'problem' just newly brought back to light. 

Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker is today saying that London's top critics showed up to review her her play (THE LINE) after a long, boozy, theatre awards lunch. The reviews were mixed, ranging from 3 stars all the way down to several pans. 

But, what's to blame? The play itself? The performances? or a long lunch with lots of booze and dull theatre awards? 

The UK Guardian tackles the issue here talking to many of those in question. We'll never know for sure if the lunch contributed to the reviews any more than bringing other issues of THEIR days into the theatre might. I'm no critic, but knowing writers who have attended the theatre in various states of mental/emotional/physical distress, I can always state that great theatre can overcome nearly anything. 

On an unrelated note, that's not the only critical drama going on in the UK this week. For the stage version of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, the theatre is using the Daily Telegraph quote "The Shawshank Redemption as a superbly gripping, genuinely uplifting drama." The problem is, that quote was about the film, not the play which was panned by the paper.

The show is now being investigated under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 act. 

Never a dull moment....