Jeremy Lewis Interview: The Role of a Theatre Critic
Title
Jeremy Lewis Interview: The Role of a Theatre Critic
Date
9 August 2017
Description
Oral history interview with local journalist and theatre reviewer, Jeremy Lewis.
What's the story?
Having trained and started his journalistic career in the South East, Jeremy Lewis moved to Nottingham in 1981 to work for the Evening Post.
Following the retirement of eminent local critic Emrys Bryson, Jeremy eventually became the regular theatre reviewer for Nottingham from the mid 1990s, attending many opening nights at the Theatre Royal.
In this interview Jeremy analyses his role as a theatre critic and how he will review a show fairly and never seek "to belittle or humiliate somebody"
Criticism is a funny thing. The one thing that Emrys and I did agree on is that no matter how unsuccessful a production might be, a fair degree of effort had gone into trying to create it, often by people who’d achieved acknowledged success and who’d had say, “a bad day at the office” with this particular production. And I always felt that it’s completely fair to express without reservation your criticism of a show. It is not necessary, as was the fashion in national newspapers in the mid-20th century, it is not necessary to belittle or humiliate somebody. And I’ve always felt that to be the case. I think you can say that somebody didn’t quite get across what he could have got across, that it wasn’t his best performance. You could say that he might have had an off day. You could say that, really, he might have missed the point, but what you don’t say is that “he’s no bloody good”, because, as often as not, they’re very good professionals. I think you have to judge it just on what you’ve seen and to judge it fairly.
Following the retirement of eminent local critic Emrys Bryson, Jeremy eventually became the regular theatre reviewer for Nottingham from the mid 1990s, attending many opening nights at the Theatre Royal.
In this interview Jeremy analyses his role as a theatre critic and how he will review a show fairly and never seek "to belittle or humiliate somebody"
Criticism is a funny thing. The one thing that Emrys and I did agree on is that no matter how unsuccessful a production might be, a fair degree of effort had gone into trying to create it, often by people who’d achieved acknowledged success and who’d had say, “a bad day at the office” with this particular production. And I always felt that it’s completely fair to express without reservation your criticism of a show. It is not necessary, as was the fashion in national newspapers in the mid-20th century, it is not necessary to belittle or humiliate somebody. And I’ve always felt that to be the case. I think you can say that somebody didn’t quite get across what he could have got across, that it wasn’t his best performance. You could say that he might have had an off day. You could say that, really, he might have missed the point, but what you don’t say is that “he’s no bloody good”, because, as often as not, they’re very good professionals. I think you have to judge it just on what you’ve seen and to judge it fairly.
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert hall Nottingham.
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham.
Contributor
Interviewers: Valerie Rogers & Sally Smith
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton
