24/3/09

I stayed up until 3:30 working on getting the blog all together in the hostel. No one said a word to me about being there, it was worlds better than being in the airport.

I slept on the bus to the airport and once I was at the airport I didn't have all that long to kill. I bought a chocolate bar because I had some coinage left that I wouldn't have been able to use, and after going through another ridiculous process to get my ticket stamped, I boarded the plane, this time I had a seat in the second row at the window. It was great, I slept the whole time.

I got on the bus back to Baker Street and slept the whole time for that too.

I didn't really have any food, so I decided to go to Tesco and grab some stuff. There were a number of good deals going on (including buy one get one free bagels and half off pizza) so I took advantage of that.

I came back and ate, started in on my presentation (which I decided would be on the ideology of newspaper reviews) by emailing different theater critics. I got a response from Michael Billington, who is London's longest serving theater critic with the Guardian. He's very well respected. Here was the interview:

Do you think the paper you write for plays a role in your reviewing style? If you wrote at another paper would you write differently?

Obviously the Guardian's tone and liberal stance has some effect upon
me. I'd like to think my views match the paper's general ethos. Also that
they probably chose me as a critic- decades ago!- because they felt I was
in tune with them. I doubt I could write for any paper I didn't feel in
sympathy with.

Is there a balance between pleasing the editors and the paper and with pleasing the readers? Or do you not think much about this?

I don't see any dilemma between pleasing editors and readers. I am
employed by the paper so I have to answer to them. At the same time, I have
a general picture of Guardian readers as educated, informed and curious to
know about theatre.

Have you ever felt pressure from the paper to change the tone of a review to fit with their style more?
I've never been under the slightest pressure to alter either the content
or the tone of a review. I have absolute freedom in that respect.

Do you read other paper's reviews?
The only other papers I read are The Independent and the Observer. I
catch up with my other colleagues reviews only by reading Theatre Record.

It was great of him to get back to me (and quickly) it really helped my presentation.

Then I went to Starbucks for dinner. I had a mushroom panini and a strawberries and cream while I worked on the presentation. After I grabbed a green Naked juice and walked to Borders to return my Stockholm guide and get the Lisbon guide.