Seattle Times Critic Makes a Bet with a Playwright—and Loses

In his original review of The Lost Girls, a new play by Courtney Meaker, Seattle Times critic Brendan Kiley made a bet with the playwright that the monster at the center of the play was a metaphor for the patriarchy. Kiley went so far as to say that he'd pay Meaker if he was wrong.

According to a new article by Kiley, Meaker did indeed reach out to correct the critic, stating through an e-mail: "I didn't set out to write a specific metaphorical representation of anything," she wrote in an email the morning after the review was published. "I set out to write a horror story about women at a very particular point of time which happens to be a terrifying point in their lives ... your interpretation is not wrong, but I was never trying to fit it into those boxes, the story just slipped into them."

Meaker went on to post about the review on Facebook, to which Kiley replied, ""You are too kind. As all playwrights know, nothing is colder and deader than the heart of a critic!" Meaker's response? "From one dead heart to another. Now give me my money."

To read the Seattle Times article in full, click here.

Photo Credit: Ian Johnston