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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

John Lahr Lecture


Last night, I attended the Old Vic New Voices Lecture series at The Players Club. The guest speaker was award winning critic John Lahr of The New Yorker. He is best known for his biography of Joe Orton. I was a little hesitant to attend this lecture because I thought, "what can a reviewer tell me, an actor, about theater." I pictured the critic from Ratatouille: old, decrepit and angry with the world. I couldn't have been more wrong, at least about the decrepit and angry part. He comes across more like a university professor rather than a critic. His lecture reflected that quality. Often times he was entertaining as well as insightful. His view of the role of the critic, not to be confused with reviewer, is to 'interpret the metaphor the playwright has created' to society and to the playwright himself. To reflect the creation to the creator. Much like how a person doesn't know who they really are until it is reflected back to them. The critic does not make the theater rather the theater makes the critic.

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