What does theatre give to us in the mind of a theatre critic? I had the privilege of chatting with Thom Dibdin in the hope that he would shed some light on this age-old question. Dibdin is the owner and editor-in-chief of All Edinburgh Theatre, a website that releases reviews, previews, and news on Scottish theatre. He is also a freelance writer and the Scotland correspondent for the national newspaper, The Stage.
Edinburgh is a vibrant cultural hub with its own unique theatre scene. Dibdin described Edinburgh’s cultural bustle as “punching above its weight”, with just two major production houses. There are over 100 Edinburgh-based productions every year “solely with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival”; I immediately understood the staggering artistic bustle in a relatively modest Northern European city.
Dibdin stressed that “local and national theatre should have equal opportunity to achieve five stars and one star”. Money and resources are not indicative of a production’s success and local theatre should not suffer under this false assumption.
“Some pieces just really hit the moment and make you think yes, I’m glad to be alive,” he added.
This reminded Dibdin of Grid Iron Theatre Company’s 1996 production of The Bloody Chamber when the immersive theatre genre was barely budding. Set in the underground vaults of Mary’s King’s Close (which he describes as “an absolutely haunted place”), Dibdin was “completely blown away by the storytelling, the performance space, and the performances”. His “not a proper theatre” prejudice immediately vanished after he woke from a dream of seeing a ghost that night. Since then, Grid Iron are a company that Dibdin always looks out for. From oil platforms to shipyards, “they haven’t always been brilliant, but they have always been interesting”.
But I still wondered what differentiates a good show from a great show, a bad show from a mediocre show. Although there’s “no magic formula”, there was one consideration that does play a role in Dibdin’s evaluation:
“I try not to make it about taste, my personal preference is not part of whether or not something’s four or five stars,” he said, explaining that he instead assesses “if they done what they’ve set out to do.”
“If they complete what they’ve set out to do in a satisfactory manner, then it’s three stars. If they do that in a way that’s better than what I expected, even if I hate it, that’s four or five stars.”
With a surprising educational history (a BSc in Maths and Computing), I wanted to know what sparked such a dramatic change in his career path. We agreed that theatre is a collective experience but Dibdin’s interest in theatre criticism was inspired by a Rowan Atkinson play when he was a university student.
“The audience really liked it because it was off the telly and they had spent a lot of money on a Friday night to like it but I thought ‘well what’s actually happening on the stage?’ It actually wasn’t very good”.
From friends noticing his lack of enthusiastic applause at a five star show to staying quiet during a lively performance, Dibdin makes it clear that his job “is not to enjoy myself. Did that person perform to their standard? Has that play done what it should’ve done?” Clearly, a critic is not one with the audience, but a third party that must disassociate from the collective mood if need be.
Even when attending a show with other critics, Dibdin reveals there is an unspoken agreement to not discuss what they had just seen. His rather isolated characterisation of his career begs the question: what does theatre itself offer us? What about the medium of theatre is worth viewing, reviewing, and critiquing? When you work as a critic who cannot fully participate with the performers, the audience, nor your colleagues, you must have a reason for your job that is solely to do with theatre itself.
“The most inconsequential line can have relevance to what’s happened today,” he said. “We can see a show that mentions the distance between us, and we would apply that to our current Covid-19 situation, even if that wasn’t the intention. Maybe great theatre allows us to bring ourselves there and see ourselves reflected on the stage”.
Words by Elizabeth Sorrell
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Image: © Peter Dibdin