How to be a critic

Charles Isherwood must have seen this article a long time ago: he followed the "Summarize the Story" point to a tee in his review of The Visit.

And Ben Brantley follows #3 somewhat, but other than that, he doesn't seem to know what he's doing.

And what about the Greatest Rule of All: BE SNARKY!!!

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Updated On: 2/12/09 at 09:16 PM

"you know EVERY critic started with a dream to do the very thing he/she bitterly snarks about. They probably just really, really sucked at it. "

Maybe in New York. Here in civilised territories we actually do see the critics popping off to direct or write a play - in fact, Nicholas de Jongh's play "Plague over England" is about to go into the West End.

And if you can't deal with people telling you when you suck, get the hell out of this business.

writing a review is not an art form. it is simply a commentary on somebody else's art. That is all it is. just because a small few can be clever about it doesn't make it art. And I think criticism has a place, and I personally can take criticism. However, with the exception of a few really skillful and thoughtful critics, i believe that much of the criticism out there is lazy and not very thoughtful.

and yes, I know everyone doesn't share the same dreams. however, you're out of your tree if you think a kid wakes up and dreams of being a critic. what a lame dream that would be. at some point that kid who really really cared about theater, or film, or music, or whatever realized he/she couldn't make a living at it and found this new path of talking about the thing they loved.

Updated On: 2/13/09 at 09:30 AM