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Definitely Not Nice!Dateline: 5th September, 2004Previews are important. Every professional knows that no production ever survives the first contact with an audience intact. The minute an audience comes in, things look different: changes need to be made. Those of us who work in small venues in the regions would love to have the luxury of previews, but we just can't afford them: runs are too short and ticket prices too low. But we'd have them if we could. Yes, we're envious of theatres with previews, but we recognise their importance. The press do not review previews. It's not fair on the theatre, the company, the director, the actors, the audience - indeed, anybody - to do so. It's not a law, but it is an agreement which has been going for some considerable time, and all the press (websites as much as print media) abide by it. But now the Guardian has decided to try to get round it (see story). They aren't the first to try to do so - a number of papers tried to sneak reporters into the first night of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in Edinburgh - but this is the first time that the agreement has been broken so blatantly. Frankly their argument, that this was not a review but a reaction to the content, is specious to say the least: in a well-written play (and we have to assume that, since the author is David Hare, then it will be at least reasonably well written) content and form are inextricably intertwined, and to suggest that it is possible to talk about one without referring to the other is ridiculous. Nor can they defend themselves with an appeal to the public interest. Those who tried to gatecrash Cuckoo's Nest might (just!) have been able to get away with that because of the involvement of a Hollywood star, but for Stuff Happens? No chance! Really, what should happen is that the National should ban the Guardian from the press night for this production. If they don't, we'll get others trying to steal a march on the competition and the whole arrangement will crumble, which will not be good for theatre. There's precedent for it: C Venues barred Three Weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and to be honest I doubt it had any effect on their box office. Will they screw their courage to the sticking place and do it? I hope so, but I doubt it. Articles Indices:
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