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Critical reception

Started by Bigfella, September 10, 2021, 05:08:05 PM

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Bigfella

For those who have had a hand in the writing, performance or production of a show, be it on stage, screen or whatever.  How did it go down in the papers and online?  If you have to paraphrase the reviews to preserve your anonymity then fair enough.  Looking forward to what people have to say, I feel that this interests us more than we let on.

Jittlebags

Not comedy related, but I was in a band in the 80s that was described by the local hack as a 'curate's egg'. He was probably right. The twat.

DrGreggles

I got a 4 star review.

"WHAT A ****!"

Bigfella

Quote from: Jittlebags on September 10, 2021, 11:25:43 PM
Not comedy related, but I was in a band in the 80s that was described by the local hack as a 'curate's egg'. He was probably right. The twat.
'swings and roundabouts'.  Comparing 'apples and oranges'.  I spent years assuming what they meant.  Was surprised when I looked up 'curate's egg', imagined it meant a rather posh and rare delight.

Bigfella

Quote from: DrGreggles on September 10, 2021, 11:33:15 PM
I got a 4 star review.

"WHAT A ****!"
Can't complain if they tell the truth.

Brundle-Fly

Once, I was in a fringe play in Hampstead that received a couple of really rotten reviews.  Most of the cast got it in the neck, but I was singled out twice as being the best thing in the production. *polishes nails on his lapel. If you'll allow me to namedrop?  A young Jared Harris was in the cast and he got a right pasting.  It was all a bit embarrassing but I placated the other company members by saying "Don't worry, it's all fish 'n' chip paper in the morning" (this was back in the 1980s when you could use this archaic pre-internet/ pre- food & hygiene standards expression).

In the final week, The Telegraph eventually printed their review and it was positively glowing about the whole production.  I remember skim reading it in a High St Kensington newsagent and catching a glimpse of my name in the last paragraph.  'Here we go, my old son!', I conceitedly thought, salivating at the prospect of further garlands. However, although the critic was lavishing praise on everybody, to my dismay, his only misgiving was that the show was let down by one actor. Me.

It said something along the lines of ..." the play did suffer from some over-the-top performances, notably from (Brundle-Fly) who mercilessly squandered his undoubted comic talent with constant mugging, capering and gauche buffoonery. ".   Fucksticks.

That night just before the half-hour call in the dressing room, an impish Jared Harris put a conciliatory arm around my shoulder, like I had done for him a week earlier, and whispered in my ear, "Vinegar with your chips, sir?"

Bernice

That is a textbook thesp's anecdote. Bravo.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Bernice on September 11, 2021, 11:27:27 AM
That is a textbook thesp's anecdote. Bravo.

One tries, dear heart. Mwah!

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on September 11, 2021, 11:03:38 AM
That night just before the half-hour call in the dressing room, an impish Jared Harris put a conciliatory arm around my shoulder, like I had done for him a week earlier, and whispered in my ear, "Vinegar with your chips, sir?"

Fuck, that's cold!

Jake Thingray

https://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/feature/13798/treasure-island Probably my best reviews here, usually my roles are too small to rate a critical mention, the "zany, enigmatic" aspect and "fine comic understatement" were actually my impression of Wilfrid Brambell's not dissimilar character in In Search of the Castaways, a film no-one else involved had ever heard of.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on September 11, 2021, 12:08:29 PM
Fuck, that's cold!

It was gentle ribbing meant with no malice. Egos need to be pricked.

Bigfella

Quote from: Jake Thingray on September 11, 2021, 12:44:12 PM
https://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/feature/13798/treasure-island Probably my best reviews here, usually my roles are too small to rate a critical mention, the "zany, enigmatic" aspect and "fine comic understatement" were actually my impression of Wilfrid Brambell's not dissimilar character in In Search of the Castaways, a film no-one else involved had ever heard of.
Not much of a theatre-goer, but that seems to have been a cracker.