Eine Gegenfrage zu dem Beitrag hätte ich und die ist nicht polemisch gemeint: Was, wenn alle Kritiker TC drei Sterne gegeben hätten, dem Herren hätte es aber außergewöhnlich gut gefallen? Hätte er dann ebenfalls einen vergleichbaren Beitrag geschrieben? Und wäre der gedruckt worden? - Einfach nur mal so als ein Gedankenspiel.

Mark Shenton hat größtenteils recht In der letzten Zeit wurden wirklich inflationär 4 und 5 Sterne verteilt - oft nicht wirklich nachvollziehbar für die nicht professionellen Theatregeeks und Reviewer, die im Gegensatz zu den professionellen ihre Tickets bezahlen müssen. Und er bezieht sich ja selbst durchaus mit ein in diese Kritik.

Ich finde es bemerkenswert, dass er zu diesem Thema öffentlich Stellung nimmt und er macht es ja auch nicht auf eine bösartige oder respektlose Art. Und damit, dass er beschreibt, warum LP für das andere Stück doch letztendlich die 5 statt 4 Sterne vergibt, macht er ja eindeutig deutlich, wieviel Wert - oder nicht - diese 5 Sterne eventuell haben können.

Und übrigens: das 4 Sterne Review von The Stage stammt nicht von ihm

Warum erwähnt er dann in seinem Review spezifische Stücke und Namen, wenn es in letzter Zeit wirklich so inflationär verteilt wurde? Ist das die feine, englische Art, es an einigen wenigen aufzuhängen?
Sein Vorwurf und deine Erwähnung, dass die Reviewer, die angeblich mit vielen Sternen um sich werfen, ihre Tickets kostenlos bekämen hat schon einen gewissen Unterton, als ob sie geschmiert würden. Kann man ihnen vorwerfen, zu viele Sterne zu vergeben? Was, wenn das wirklich ihre ehrliche Meinung ist?
Seine Unterstellung beinhaltet unterschwellig den Vorwurf der Unaufrichtigkeit. Hältst du das für fair seinen Kollegen gegenüber? Ist das unter Kritikern so üblich, sich gegenseitig auch noch ihre Kritiken zu kritisieren?

Wenn ich diesen kriegerischen Artikel von ihm lese, dass sein " Skalp" gefordert worden ist- da schwingt für mich schon sehr viel Bitterkeit seiner Branche, den Editors etc. gegenüber mit- für mich hat das schon den Beigeschmack, als ob er, um seine Metapher mal beizubehalten, das Kriegsbeil noch nicht begraben hätte. Damit scheint er schon noch ganz gern Hühnchen zu rupfen.
http://www.thestage.co.uk/columns/shent ... time-mine/

My two Cents- aber ich bin natürlich keine intime Kennerin der Branche.

... dass sie sich eventuell von der ersten Begeisterung über das Abweichen vom "Einheitsbrei" einlullen lassen und eventuell nochmals reflektiert darüber nachdenken sollten, ob es jetzt wirklich 4 oder sogar 5 Sterne sind oder ob es Gründe zur Abwertung gibt.

Und was sind nun deiner Meinung nach 6 x 5* reviews von großen Zeitungen wirklich wert? Beste Produktion der Woche? Der Saison? Der letzten Jahre? Macht dies RA zum Stern der Theaterszene oder ist das eigentlich ganz normal?

Und was sind nun deiner Meinung nach 6 x 5* reviews von großen Zeitungen wirklich wert? Beste Produktion der Woche? Der Saison? Der letzten Jahre? Macht dies RA zum Stern der Theaterszene oder ist das eigentlich ganz normal?

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July 4, 2014 12:27 pm
The Crucible, Old Vic, London – review
By Sarah Hemming
Yaël Farber’s staging and some superb performances unleash this brilliant play’s harrowing power
Front: Richard Armitage and Natalie Gavin in 'The Crucible'©Donald Cooper/photostage
Front: Richard Armitage and Natalie Gavin in 'The Crucible'
In a production of stunning intensity it’s the quiet moments that get you most. Into the middle of a raging argument in the Proctors’ kitchen come two silent, shell-shocked old men: their wives have been charged with witchcraft. We’ve met one of them earlier in the play – Rebecca Nurse, a kindly old woman of consummate wisdom; we, like the characters, realise this is the point of no return. It’s a moment of sickening terror, handled beautifully by the cast in Yaël Farber’s magnificent staging.
Arthur Miller’s haunting masterpiece about the Salem witch hunts is sadly never out of date. Written in response to the McCarthyite hysteria in 1950s America, it serves as a timeless warning about the power of paranoia. Farber, wisely, leaves it in its context: a hardworking, God-fearing, rural 17th-century community (only the accents shift, to northern England). Staged, simply, in the round, the play fuses the particular with the parable. Clothes are durable and monochrome; furniture is simple and sparse; interiors are intimate and domestic. There is, significantly, nothing special about this place. A teenage girl fakes a faint to avoid awkward questions about dancing in the woods; her father, a preacher given to hellfire sermons, mentions witchcraft; her friend, sharp, scheming Abigail (played with sullen spite by Samantha Colley), spots an opportunity to play with fire – and we’re off. Soon neighbour is trading neighbour as witch: it’s sell, or be sold.

Miller’s genius is to show the way personal grief, guilt or greed feed into hysteria. His agent on stage is John Proctor, a decent man, who, riven with guilt over his brief affair with Abigail, knows her well enough to spot her intentions. Richard Armitage’s Proctor is a gruff, bearlike individual, tormented by his slip from grace and movingly matched by Anna Madeley as his wife, frozen in hurt. Their personal journey towards mutual forgiveness pulls against the gathering darkness elsewhere and proves very moving here.
In a fine ensemble, there are some superb performances: Adrian Schiller as the minister who gradually realises the horror he has unleashed; Jack Ellis as the fanatical judge who would rather hang more innocent people than admit a mistake; Ann Firbank as the quietly sane Rebecca Nurse.
There are flaws that hold the staging back. Farber gilds the lily, adding unnecessary wordless passages and hitting overdrive in places: sometimes quiet threats are more potent than roaring. But she and her cast release the harrowing power of this brilliant play.


oldvictheatre.com

THE CRUCIBLE
Reporter: Matthew Amer, first published Fri 04 Jul 2014 11:29 Richard Armitage stars in The Crucible, playing at the Old Vic (Photo: Johan Persson)Richard Armitage stars in The Crucible (Photo: Johan Persson)
What’s it all about?
Some might say witches, some might say McCarthyism. I’ll say Arthur Miller’s tragic portrayal of a community consumed by hysteria when claims of witchcraft are hurled like psychological hand-grenades by a group of malicious minors.
Who’s in it?
Richard Armitage, better known for his screen work in Spooks and The Hobbit these days than for his stage past, returns to board treading, leading the cast as John Proctor, a man whose previous extra-marital dalliance lies at the heart of the community’s sudden black magic epidemic.
His Proctor is an imposing, prowling, growling figure with more rough edges than an Elizabethan neck-piece maker. Paradoxically brimming with pride and power while haunted by shame and remorse, he is constantly balancing on a tipping point, ready to explode with fury or collapse under the pressure of his principles.
Adrian Schiller brings a disconcertingly calm air of sense and reliability to Reverend Hale, the churchman called in to unearth Salem’s witches.
In her professional stage debut, Samantha Colley imbues ringleader Abigail Williams with layer upon layer of anger and hatred, giving this most dislikeable of characters an impudent swagger and air of untouchability that normally only comes with mob bosses… or teenagers.
What should I watch out for?
Director Yaël Farber’s dark and richly atmospheric scene changes and beginnings. This is a long production – three and a half hours – and these wordless episodes add to the running time, but I would not remove a second, such are their beauty and impact.
The striking lighting design by 2014 Olivier Award winner Tim Lutkin that creates the shadows and haunted spaces in which Miller’s drama can unfold.
The synchronised movements, frozen eyes and hideous contortion of the show’s witch-crying girls, which comes straight out of The Shining or Village Of The Damned.
In a nutshell?
Armitage proves a colossal presence at the heart of a chillingly atmospheric revival of Miller’s classic.
Who was in the press night crowd?
A few guardians of Middle Earth were out in support of their The Hobbit colleague Armitage; Orlando Bloom and Sir Ian McKellen. Stage stars Roger Allam, Fiona Shaw, Haydn Gwynne, Niamh Cusack and Sherlock’s Andrew Scott were also out in force for the in-the-round production.
What’s being said on Twitter?
@eye_patches Saw #TheCrucible tonight @oldvictheatre - most magnificent piece of theatre I've seen.
@SarahwRose I have no words to describe how brilliant @oldvictheatre production #TheCrucible was. If you have time to see 1 play this season, see it.
Will I like it?
Like is a tough word to use for this play that sees an entire town taken in by the antics of children and a man who, despite his wrongs, is good at heart forced to put his principles on the line. With darkness never far away, both figuratively and in reality, at times you’re desperate to shake some sense into people, while at others you simply want to sit back and marvel at the beauty of the production’s design. But it is never far from exhilarating, barely lets you take a relaxed breath and three and a half hours have rarely charged by so swiftly.

As the press reviews for The Crucible started to pile up on Friday 4th July, the day after opening night, it became clear that the result was better than could ever have been reasonably expected. All day Friday, I struggled to keep up with the flow, as one review after another appeared online. The Telegraph- 5 stars, The Times, The Guardian, Time Out, and The Evening Standard, all followed suit with the same rating – five stars. Waiting for The Independent, the last important review to make its tardy appearance, reminded me of the night The Return Of The King was raking in Academy Awards, and no one wanted the run of success to come to an abrupt halt. Gratifyingly, Paul Taylor from The Independent agreed with his fellow reviewers from the other important print outlets, and also awarded the production 5 stars.

Once the initial, heady euphoria died down, I began to wonder just what six 5 star reviews actually signified- how common an occurrence was this in the English theatre scene, where important theater is judged to be some of the best in the world?

I’d read that Michael Billington of The Guardian , rarely hands out 5 stars, so I thought it would be interesting to search The Guardian to see how many productions Billington had awarded a top rating to this year. Out of an astonishing 102 stage reviews from January through to 3rd July this year, just four were considered worthy of 5 stars, Versailles, Testament Of Mary, Skylight and The Crucible. I tracked the success of the other three shows against the ratings they garnered from the remaining big five print outlets, and none came close. Skylight, starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan, managed three 5 star reviews.



I recalled the rave reviews I’d been reading about A View From The Bridge, starring Mark Strong and Nicola Walker, which ended it’s run at the Young Vic in June. It seemed apt to compare two recent Arthur Miller productions, staged in twin theatres; it was also extremely well regarded, and as it happens, The Guardian was it’s only 4 star review amongst a sea of 5′s. Almost as good as The Crucible, but not quite.


Other Desert Cities staged this season at the The Old Vic received 4 stars across the board.

What if we were to take a look at the critical success of Coriolanus, staged late last year at the Donmar, with Tom Hiddleston headlining the cast? A number of people I know either saw the production in person, or in the broadcast at the cinema, and thought very highly of it- all the major reviewers gave it 4 star.

Similarly, the critics gave four stars to the Sam Mendes directed King Lear starring the acclaimed stage actor Simon Russell Beale, earlier this year at The National.

No doubt it’s partly due to the uncommon run of 5 star reviews for The Crucible that prompted the article by Mark Shenton in The Stage, ‘Are Critics Too Generous’, which Perry discussed a couple of days ago here . Just exactly how uncommon unanimous 5 star reviews are, I haven’t ascertained, but clearly those six reviewers saw something in Yael Farber’s staging of The Crucible that they felt set it apart from other critically acclaimed productions and was deserving of 5 stars.