lokster71's review
4.0
This book is a collection not just of Tynan's reviews but miscellaneous work about issues facing the theatre, including the quest to get a National Theatre and to getting rid of the Lord Chamberlain's office.
It is astonishing to think that there once existed a person whose sole role in life was to censor plays so that the British people might avoid being shocked and offended. There's a great article towards the end of the book where Tynan reveals the ridiculousness of the Lord Chamberlain's position.
His writing shows that criticism is an art in its own right. It is full of great phrases that I will end up stealing I'm sure. It is witty, if occasionally acerbic.
What it also does is open a light on the changes British theatre was to go through over the 50s and 60s as 'Loamshire' (a phrase Tynan came up with to describe the sort of posh country house drama's that British theatre was replete with at the time) gave way to something new under pressure from European and American theatre, the challenges of finding new English theatrical writing and the quest to get a National Theatre up and running.
The best thing is the insight it gives to performances we can't see. Tynan actually talks about the role of a critic to be - partly - recording the experience of being in a theatre on a particular night to posterity (I paraphrase. Probably badly.)
If you're interested in the British theatre you'll find this an interesting read and you'll find yourself wishing you'd see Olivier on stage at his best or wanting to see if Tynan was as unfair to Vivian Leigh as he can sometimes see.
It is astonishing to think that there once existed a person whose sole role in life was to censor plays so that the British people might avoid being shocked and offended. There's a great article towards the end of the book where Tynan reveals the ridiculousness of the Lord Chamberlain's position.
His writing shows that criticism is an art in its own right. It is full of great phrases that I will end up stealing I'm sure. It is witty, if occasionally acerbic.
What it also does is open a light on the changes British theatre was to go through over the 50s and 60s as 'Loamshire' (a phrase Tynan came up with to describe the sort of posh country house drama's that British theatre was replete with at the time) gave way to something new under pressure from European and American theatre, the challenges of finding new English theatrical writing and the quest to get a National Theatre up and running.
The best thing is the insight it gives to performances we can't see. Tynan actually talks about the role of a critic to be - partly - recording the experience of being in a theatre on a particular night to posterity (I paraphrase. Probably badly.)
If you're interested in the British theatre you'll find this an interesting read and you'll find yourself wishing you'd see Olivier on stage at his best or wanting to see if Tynan was as unfair to Vivian Leigh as he can sometimes see.
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