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I Want to Be a Dead White Man but Feel EmasculatedPhilip Fisher comments on the debate about theatre critics started by Nicholas HytnerDateline: 15th May, 2007Nick Hytner has certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons by calling the country's leading theatre critics "dead white men". I may be sad but I currently aspire to become a dead white man and have nothing but respect for those whom he is maligning. Hytner's remarks have apparently been made in response to his disappointment at the daily papers' reviews of Kneehigh's radical new interpretation of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's classic film, A Matter of Life and Death. The main daily paper critics were generally disappointed when their expectations were not met and Hytner has ascribed this to their age, gender and misogyny in the face of a production directed by a young woman, Emma Rice. Their opinions were balanced by a rave from Susannah Clapp in the Observer and mildly tempered enthusiasm from Kate Bassett in the Indie on Sunday. A small straw poll might suggest though that, in this case, Mr Hytner has got it completely wrong. BTG's own John Thaxter, writing in The Stage, is very enthusiastic about the show and my own review is positive, if, like Ms Bassett, concerned about a few shortcomings. John and I are both male and white but very much alive, if rather older than we once were. John is well past retirement age, while I am still a few years younger than the esteemed head of the National Theatre. The major criticisms in this case seems to come primarily from those who are hopelessly in love with the movie and feel hurt that anybody should try and play around with it, other than to present something almost identical on stage. The same frequently happens with radical modernisations of Shakespeare or Mozart. Over the years, I have got to know most of the theatre critics from the major journals, not to mention many minor ones, and would never doubt their integrity or, in most cases, their judgment. Nine times out of ten, nearly all of the critics will go the same way on a play, whether positive or negative. That is the case whether the person reviewing is a seasoned veteran or a young tyro and the director an ageing bloke well past his sell-by date or a fresh-faced young woman. This suggests that any bias is far more based on artistic grounds than some kind of hidden agenda. Where Nick Hytner might well have had a point is in the difference of outlook between critics. As an example, it is inevitable that a play reviewed in the Evening Standard will garner different reactions from Nicholas de Jongh and his deputy Fiona Mountford, or, in The Times, from Benedict Nightingale and Sam Marlowe. It must also be borne in mind that newspapers and critics tend to get the readers that they deserve. The major papers are primarily read by ABC1 whites, men more than women, with an age profile that in many cases might categorise them as "dead" for these purposes. They clearly enjoy reading the musings of Charles Spencer, Benedict Nightingale, Paul Taylor and Michael Billington, and might well be shocked if some female undergraduate started to tell them what to like. One could argue that that would be a good thing but, for better or worse, it is unlikely to sell papers. I sympathise with Mr Hytner, in that he regularly challenges audiences with his adventurous and generally very successful programming. However, he might wonder whether an attack on critics will help to engender good reviews when Philistines opens in the Lyttelton Theatre at the end of the month. The truth of the pudding will be in the eating because there is no doubt in my mind that if this new version of a Gorky classic is any good, those much-maligned dead white men will say so enthusiastically, rather than getting their own back on Mr H. His rejoinder might be to suggest that their favour is a compliment to the director, Howard Davies, but that would be unworthy. After all, Coram Boy, directed by Melly Still, enthused so many, as did Marianne Elliott's Pillars of the Community and Katie Mitchell's Waves. As a big fan of Nick Hytner and what he has achieved at the National, I sincerely hope that this storm disappears into its teacup before too long and we can get back to enjoying the shows, whether their directors are male or female, young or old.
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