I'll Be the Devil hasn't ruled all the reviews. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Peer review has been all the rage this week. While Lyn Gardner renewed her call for the reintroduction of some kind of peer review in Arts Council England's decision-making process, British Theatre Guide's blog covered the recent appointment of Genista McIntosh to lead an investigation into the Arts Council's recent Spending Review.
The BTG points out that "as a member of the House of Lords ... who has worked in senior positions at the RSC, the National and the Royal Opera House, as well as being a former Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, [McIntosh] is well qualified to do the job and has the political clout not to be ignored." This apparently means that "if peer review (which is what some commentators have called McIntosh's task) is appropriate for ACE, then it is surely appropriate for its clients." It's a good point, and one, hopefully, that will not be lost on either McIntosh or ACE.
But it is not just artists who are currently under review. For once, the spotlight has swivelled round and is making the hacks in the aisle seats sweat. As Matt Wolf noted recently, the Economist's Intelligent Life magazine has produced a list of the world best critics as compiled by, um, other critics and journalists. The list is brief enough to leave many of our esteemed scribes out in the cold. However, not everyone is bitter. Mark Shenton did not make the grade but he seems quite happy with most of those that did. Alhough he is forced to admit that he had not even heard of Daniel Mendelsohn, the theatre critic for the New York Review of Books.
Of course, Intelligent Life is not the only publication that is holding the critics to account. Over in Prompt Corner, Ian Shuttleworth takes the Sunday Telegraph's Tim Walker to task. He draws attention to a comment in Walker's review of An English Tragedy which says "when it makes its inevitable West End transfer I would recommend [...] drafting in Rupert Everett to play John Amery". Shuttleworth points out that Everett is, in fact, a good friend of Walker's, and "has not only appeared in previous pieces as a noted chum of the reviewer but on occasion even as Tim's theatregoing companion. Strangely, he didn't mention that connection this time." Strange indeed.
And it seems that our critics are getting too much for some people. David Eldridge has been driven to despair by the critical response to Leo Butler's new play I'll Be the Devil. What Eldridge saw as a "pungently and painfully written ... miracle of compression and an inspiring technical accomplishment" has been harshly dismissed by much of the press. And so, he concludes that he may just have to "go cold turkey on the reviews". And he is not the only one. Playwright Phyllis Nagy goes even further, saying that poor criticism is "why I've given up playwriting. It's just too difficult, at least for me, to keep going in the face of such nonsense."
Perhaps it is not surprising that most of the critics in Intelligent Life's list write for publications where they are not expected to file new copy every day and where they are given considerably more space to write in when they do. After all, doesn't the best writing occur when there is enough room to really explore what matters, and none to explore what doesn't? Answers, by tomorrow, on the back of a postage stamp please.
Finally, bloggers responded quickly to what Andrew Collins understandably describes as "a shocking bit of news" - the death of Anthony Minghella. Michael Coveney paid tribute to Minghella, John Naughton called The English Patient "one of the best films I have ever seen" and Ben Kenigsberg described the writer-director as "a singular figure". Over on the Ventnorblog, we are told that on the Isle of Wight (where Minghella grew up) the council has opened a book of condolences for him and is flying their flag at half mast.
