Nick Ahad: Why best critics really don't enjoy writing bad reviews

Critics do their job because they love the art form about which they write. I love theatre. A negative review is a painful thing to write. I want to dance out of the theatre having had my soul changed, my view of the world shifted by a piece of art that exists in the magic moment between curtain up and lights down. That is what I always hope for. It’s the spirit I take into the theatre every time I arrive to write a review.

No matter the pain, it is sometimes entirely necessary that critics write a negative review if they feel it is deserved. It preserves a useful critical conversation. Without that kind of criticism, we’d find ourselves in a world where reviews consist of people saying ‘this was nice because…’

My review of Single Spies for Culture this week (page 15) is one of those I found difficult to write. I wanted to love it. It’s Alan Bennett, it’s in the jewel of the theatre that is Leeds Grand. It’s Bennett on home turf for goodness sake.

Well… Single Spies is actually the umbrella title for two plays, presented either side of an interval. At the interval for Single Spies I overheard a conversation between a man and wife that was, ironically, positively Bennettian. “What do you think?” “Not much.” “I’ve heard that first one is the livelier of the two.”

Last weekend, in a column for The Sunday Times, Suzanne Moore wrote about her own experience of theatre. “It’s not as if I haven’t given it a go... overpriced seats, faffing about for a drink... being expected to applaud a stage set. A cheap film is better than this, unless it’s Beckett (she couldn’t resist, could she). It’s simply shouting in the evenings”.

This daft notion demonstrates a couple of things. First – when did she last go to the theatre? Theatre has changed significantly in the last few decades. Much more importantly, it demonstrates that when something does look like this old-fashioned idea, there is a responsibility to call it out.

Otherwise people will be left with the notion that this is good theatre. Theatre productions are as varied in theme and quality as movie productions. Some films are good, some are bad. To judge all of them by the quality of a few is, well, it’s pretty much the definition of prejudice – from which comes nothing positive.