October 14, 2011

Should theatres pay critics to come and review?

Editor    posted 30 Sep 2011, 08:41 AM

From The Guardian

NOISES OFF:  Should theatres pay critics to come and review?  

What price a bit of honest publicity? The rapidly changing face of theatre reviewing is grist to the bloggers’ mill this week.

What happens if you can’t get a critic to see your show? Most theatres would probably shrug and move on. But the new Swiss website TheaterKritik.ch thinks it has a different answer. According to a news article at German theatre blog NachtKritik.de, the website plans to fund itself by having smaller theatres take out subscriptions to be reviewed. But this won’t be a matter of buying a favourable opinion. Oh no. For their money, the subscribing theatre will get two professional critics attending, who will then record a podcast discussing the show’s merits or otherwise. [more] 

Nic Farra              posted 9 Oct 2011, 10:24 AM

Yawn. No, but the organs should pay.

Dane Giraud       posted 14 Oct 2011, 01:29 PM

Paying a critic for the honor of their reviewing your work is akin to paying a Don Fannuci protection money to prevent those unexplained fires that break out from time to time. A dispicable idea.