The dark art of the slag

In today's Age, critic Cameron Woodhead buys into the recent controversy around Shit on Your Play. For once, a sensible, informed piece ...

A caution - and something on truthfulness

I know you must all be sick to death of the Henson debacle (I certainly am, and am looking forward to a break from Australia next week) but ...

Bill Henson rated PG

This morning comes the news that the DPP has told NSW police that they don't have a case to prosecute Bill Henson for obscenity or posse...

Reality: what a concept

Ms TN and others have had many requests from people who would also like to put their names to the The Open Letter in Support of Bill Henson....

Naked censorship

Yesterday it was reported that police were investigating websites hosting Bill Henson's photographs. Aside from the grim humour of seein...

The wash up

Daniel Schlusser pointed out last week that an illiterate idiot published in the Age was quoting William Blake in order to condemn Bill Hens...

The Empire Strikes Back

That monstrous crrrritic Ms TN gets a bit of what's coming to her in Crikey today. My spies tell me that Peter Craven has gone for the t...

STC saga #354

Boy, they like a good feeding frenzy up in Sydney. Nicholas Pickard is doing a good job of logging the controversy. Meanwhile, the latest ST...

Moody Moody

...while we're on the subject of State theatre companies, actor Colin Moody is in the Age today tearing strips off the STC. Moody's ...

Miscellany

I know that the Melbourne Festival has been the epicentre of the universe lately, but a couple of things have banked up while I've been...

File this one under "petty"

You all know that my worser self takes over now and again. I'm afraid I had a day like that yesterday. Oh, I could just slap myself.Andr...

More critical amusings

Every now and then my brain seems to dissolve in my skull and turn into something resembling fish paste. At such times language deserts me, ...

Flogging the critical horse

So George Hunka is asked along to a show at Playwrights Horizons in New York, and his invitation stipulates that he is asked to blog his tho...

AA Gill sticks his fork in

You have to pity the London crrrritics. Just as the spat over Nicholas Hytner's full-frontal attack reached an uneasy detente, AA Gill r...

Bits and Bobs

1. The VCA blog Spark Online makes my heart beat faster this morning with the brilliant news that Oscar Redding's The Tragedy of Hamlet,...

Fight! Fight! Fight!

UPDATE: Encore Theatre Magazine follows up with editorial and more reaction from London's critical elite, who have lined up as one man t...

The Playwright as King

Chris Goode, of the admirable Thompson's Bank of Communicable Desire, once made a distinction between those who are playwrights and thos...

Debate? What debate?

Asks Supernaut (aka dancer Frances D'Ath) of the so-called "controversy" around the Melbourne Festival.Slagging match of the ...

Crampton on criticism

UPDATE: Just caught up with Rat Sass's take on what he calls blogosphere "theatre talk" and the "contra-review". Am...

On being nice

UPDATES: Some well-considered words from Ben Ellis over at Parachute of a Playwright and gobsmacked disbelief from our man in berlin Daniel...