Thursday, December 3, 2009

A Scathing Review Rebuked

A Broward/Palm Beach New Times reader had issues with Brandon K. Thorp's review of the Palm Beach DramaWorks production of Ibsen's The Dollhouse.

I must say that I have never read a review of any production as savage as Brandon K. Thorp's "Godzilla Does Norway" on October 22. You could have expressed your displeasure in ways less personally hurtful to the actress involved.

Just to refresh your memory, the writer is probably referring to passages such as this:

The actors dutifully act, and I suspect that, in rehearsal, director Bill Hayes at least tried his hand at directing.

Not enough... to keep petite little Margery Lowe from making Henrik Ibsen her bitch. If A Doll's House is chamber music, Lowe is a walking mosh-pit. If A Doll's House is a knife-fight, Lowe is a bazooka. If A Doll's House is Tokyo, Margery Lowe is Godzilla.

The writer, Brian Reeves of Palm Beach goes on to say:

You owe this young lady an apology. Not for your opinions but for the manner in which you decided to express them. She is a human being. Please treat her — and future subjects — as such.

While I can't profess to know Margery's initial reaction to reading Thorp's scathing review, Margery did tell me that it became their rallying cry before the show "OK - time to make Ibsen our Bitch!"

Brandon's review was every bit as overblown as he seemed to believe Margery's performance was. And while no one is disputing Brandon's right to his own opinion on the matter, it seems to be a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. Or as my 13 year old nephew might say, "He who said it, 'let it!'" Perhaps it's no accident; perhaps Brandon is trying to make a point by example. Or maybe, he's just getting a scathing review out of his system.

A number of years ago, Berke Breathed had Opus rip out a harsh review on a film:
"George Phblat’s new film, ‘Benji Saves the Universe,’ has brought the word ‘BAD’ to new levels of badness. Bad acting. Bad effects. Bad everything. This film just oozed rottenness from every bad scene. Simply bad beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness......

Well maybe not that bad, but Lord, it wasn't good."
Of course, it is fun to lay into someone; it would be easy to say "Brandon whaled away on Lowe with the enthusiam of a seal-clubber bashing skulls to pulp in a fit of unbridled blood-lust." Easy to write; but is it fair to portray someone so?

But this also illustrates why we need more than one reviewer's opinion. If all we had was Brandon's review, we might conclude that Dollhouse was the most hideous staging since Carrie The Musical. And we would probably be wrong. Compare Brandon's remarks with these:
She bravely and skillfully inhabits Henrik Ibsen's flawed heroine...
- Bill Hirschman, The Sun-Sentinel
Margery Lowe's radiant Nora is like the high sustained vibrato note of a violin rising above the orchestra of a strong supporting cast...
- Jan Sjostrom, The Palm Beach Daily News

So as long as we get a variety of reviewers, we can draw our own conclusions about whether or not we'll try to get out to see a particular play, even if some of the reviewers go little over the top.

10 comments:

  1. "Brandon whaled away on Lowe with the enthusiam of a seal-clubber bashing skulls to pulp in a fit of unbridled blood-lust."
    Please don't try to be as witty or esoteric as Brandon. You only embarrass yourself.

    Also its Carrie The Musical, not Carey. At least Brandon gets the title of the show right. I am forever amazed at how little you know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also its Carrie The Musical, not Carey. I am forever amazed at how little you know.

    Actually, that should read "it's Carrie the musical", not its. What kind of fool tasks someone on spelling while making grievous grammatical errors?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so pleased to say that the show sold out for most of its run and broke box office records for the theatre (mostly created by word of mouth). The reactions from audience members at curtain and in the many emails and letters to PBD was humbling and so very gratifying for all of us in the cast and crew. I've never felt prouder to be a part of something so, in the end, it didn't really matter, did it?

    PS
    To the other comment - actually, Brandon, unfortunately, has gotten the names of many a show he has reviewed wrong (2 recent specific examples are in mind), so... it happens!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This article is such a waste of time! Why bother taking a "critic" to task over a review he wrote...Dont you think thats what his intention was? Writers want response and all your doing feeding the beast.. get a life and find something of your own to write about. Yawn (note: im talking to the wpb writer not CJ)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The person commenting above was not tasking you on your spelling. They were tasking you on your knowledge of theatre. There is a difference between a misuse of grammar and not knowing the title of a particular show.

    BTW - Carrie was a flop when it first opened, but the score and book have had such a strong cult following that there was a recent New York workshop starring Sutton Foster. There is even talk about a possible revival. I hope the producers are smart enough to capitalize on the camp quality the show.

    As for BTK, I look forward to his reviews. More often than not, he is the only one who gets it right. (I did not see this production, so I’m not sure about this one.) Ms. Lowe took his critique the right way. "OK - time to make Ibsen our Bitch!" is classy and genius. I have seen Ms. Lowe in other performances and she has always been top notch. I look forward to seeing her again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The person commenting above was not tasking you on your spelling. They were tasking you on your knowledge of theatre.

    In point of fact, they did both. Go on, read it again. First they do one, then they do the other.

    There is a difference between a misuse of grammar and not knowing the title of a particular show.

    And of course, there's a difference between not knowing the title of a show, and mispelling the title of a show you do know. Had I spoken it aloud, you'd have nothing to say on the matter.

    You'll have to do a lot better than a phonetically correct spelling error to demonstrate my alleged lack of knowledge on anything.

    BTW, while I think Brandon went over the top on this particular review, I do enjoy reading his reviews. But the point is that no critic can always "get it right." One might be closer to your views than another, but all of them write through the filter of their tastes and experiences. And that's fine.

    ReplyDelete
  7. C.L.J. I think your ego is getting a bit out of control. Never assume you know more than your audience. I don't think I have ever known anyone who does so little and yet thinks so highly of themselves. They use to say "those who can't do teach". I think we should change that to "those who can't do write blogs".

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't think I have ever known anyone who does so little and yet thinks so highly of themselves.

    It's obvious you don't know me at all.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chris. Seriously. Did you steal Anonymous' bike in junior high or something?

    -Ken Clement

    ReplyDelete
  10. I beat them at Scrabble at 5 cents a point. :-)

    ReplyDelete