Leonard Jacobs, National Theatre Editor and theatre critic for Back Stage and New York Press, is also the mind behind the popular theatre blog, Clyd Fitch Report. Brave soul that he is, Leonard agreed to be our first "Critic on the Spot" by fielding questions from some of our Extra Criticum authors.
Every few days, we've posted a new Q&A between Leonard and one of us. Here's #7, our penultimate with Leonard, this one from Paul Outlaw. Our last installment will appear tommorrow. Stay tuned!
Q:
Two questions.
1) Have you ever written a review that you deeply regret and would take back (or completely rework) if you could?
2) What would you like theatre artists to get out of your reviews of their work?
Q:
I did when I was younger—I started writing reviews for The Village Voice and other publications when I was 22, and oh, oh, oh did I say things I shouldn’t have said. No 22-year-old should be reviewing; then again, what better time is there to learn and to celebrate the form and revel in its possibilities? So, yes, I wrote some things I wish I hadn’t written. I don’t really care to recycle them here. I just pray that when I get to the Jewish equivalent of the Pearly Gates, there isn’t mold in my potato salad.
What would I like theatre artists to get out of my reviews? Helpful feedback or even just a different point of view, I think, even if they violently disagree with what I have to say. I’d like them to know that I want the best theatre I can get. We don’t have to agree on how to get to the moon. We can agree that getting there is important.
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