I recently organized ‘Response; Arts Criticism in the Digital Age’ a series of workshops and conversations at the WMC and RWCMD, participants shared their views on a variety of issues, including the on-going relationships between arts critics, venues, producers and artists, critical responses to Welsh venues’ work, the star rating system, arts criticism in the Welsh language, and the future role of the arts critic.
We had a great day of debate and discussion at the WMC on the Saturday; I have posted some of the discussion topics below. We are in the process of looking at ways to follow up many of these areas. If you have any views on the topics please do get in touch.
Tom Beardshaw of Native HQ ran a social media workshop at the RWCMD on the Sunday. Participants were tasked with making a response to the World Stage Design Festival. The workshop participants utilized a range of online platforms to create a variety of responses to the subject matter; most of these feedback methods wouldn’t have been possible utilizing traditional hard copy print methods.
Young Critics Chelsey, Charlie and Elin used Pinterest as a response method, the video app Vine was embedded into their pins on Pinterest, as well as links to their own individual blogs.
http://www.pinterest.com/elin0391/wsd2013/
3^rd Age Critic Leslie Herman Jones created a response blog on NTW, Leslie posted some really interesting thoughts on new and traditional response methods to the arts and a possible focus on the ‘young’ at the expense of the more experienced.
http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/response-t…
3rd Age Critic Barbara Michaels learnt how to create a tumblr blog during the Response workshop.
http://www.tumblr.com/about
During the workshop. Barbara was really interested in the opportunities online offers to critics,”by the use of online resources being able to interact with those responding to the critic’s comments – which was virtually impossible under previous methods of publishing in a newspaper or magazine – the critic’s role in the 21st century gains both in value and status”
http://barbiesbuzz.tumblr.com/
 
Jacqui Onions Administrator for Hijinx theatre and critic for the http://www.thepublicreviews.com/ , responded with a series of brilliant videos to WSD 13 and fully immersed herself in the exhibition creating her own art cart!
http://www.hijinx.org.uk/general-news/2013/09/17/hijinx-at-response…
http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/critical-feedback-to-the-response-event

Megan Childs and Moon Noh from Theatre Iolo used video and photography to create a specific response to the Willow Theatre, The Willow Theatre, designed by architect Tim Lai and theatre designer Brad Steinmetz, both of Columbus, Ohio, USA was voted as the winning design of the sustainable temporary theatre space and was built for the event.

http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/a-sustaina…
 

Notes from Response event.

Specialist Art form reviews

     Lack of specialist critics in Opera, Ballet, Contemporary dance.
     Fear of covering something out of your area of expertise or in a different language.
     Specific art form critics training
     ACW Revenue funding agreement
“Engage in Critical debate to Raise standards and develop your art form/s and sector/s”
Further discussion with ACW, RFO’s
     Artists intimidated by Critics and vice versa
     Specific discussion as regards disability arts, a lack of training and support opportunities.
The Audience
     A constructive relationship with audiences and companies
     Commercial aspect advertising selling papers
     Give the audience an online voice
Venues/Companies
     The role of the critic to support marketing audience development
     The relationship with venues and companies trust /respect a well-resourced
process
     Insight into the developmental process of work

Careers/Training

     Expectation Vs. Guidance
     Are people scared of being honest?
     All talk no action
     No support
     Outreach
     Platforms to be heard.
     Paid V volunteer work frustrating /dead ends
     Develop and build your own identity and voice
     Personal website but your own work out there D.I.Y.
     Diversify
     No clearly defined career path
     How to pitch and brand yourself.
     Use the Young Critics/Young Person title as a way to develop a community
     Funding for training and support networks/a collective
     Frameworks need to evolve and will
     Approach people you admire and respect for mentoring
     If you can’t get paid for your work at least gets something else, skill share, editing of your work, etc.
     Free training available from the Welsh government?
     Centre for Community Journalism Cardiff University
     Welsh Arts Criticism, The people with the skills are there but blogging doesn’t pay
     Arts criticism in Wales is an unsustainable profession
     Wales Arts Review very important, editing of reviews with critics huge help
     The role of schools education literacy what can be done in schools to raise critics profile, Arts in Education review       ACW?
     Collaboration with young people
     NUJ?
The Future
     Need to nurture critics in Wales, the idea of a national critic National press Wales Supporting future voices
     How many people do critics influence
     Should critics be engaging in online discussion
     Describing the cultural value of Wales’s artistic output
     Star ratings develop a more nuanced breakdown
     No full time professional jobs collapsing business model
     The role of the critic in supporting emerging companies
     Getting the information out there.
     Space to publish the reviews
     See alternative platforms
     Oral criticism
     Visual criticism
     A way to review in more depth and consider a variety of factors
     A Critics Code, David Adams?
     Status of critics
     A welsh Critics Circle
     Join the International Association of Theatre Critics
     A network for critics like the writers Antelopes group.
     A range of voices is positive
     Developing Wales global critical response
     The role of the critic in raising the standard of art forms
     Developing audience confidence
     Do you need to look hard for insightful criticism in Wales
     Different methods of reviewing online
     How to get more young people involved
Welsh Language
     Lack of a North Wales critics and reviews in the Welsh Language
     Fear of covering something out of your area of expertise or in a different language.
     Welsh language specific grammar, formal written language issues
     Difficult to get a national review of our work as were based in a rural area.
     How can we get more children to review our work, specifically Open Doors Festival 2014
     Objectivity of Critics in Wales everyone knows everyone else esp. in Welsh Language

One Thousand Pages in Two Hours
Lionboy
Complicite
Wales Millennium Centre
06/07/2013
 
From entertaining children with the written word to entertaining children on the stage, Complicite’s production of the bestselling trilogy Lionboy has pulled out all the stops to live up to the books’ high standards.  The production, which follows the plight of 11 year old Charlie Ashanti (Adetomiwa Edun) as he races to rescue his abducted parents, stars a simple but talented eight-man cast.  Of course, it isn’t the thought-provoking idea of the small Charlie chasing down the abductor, the evil pharmaceutical giant, The Corporacy, which appeals most to the children, but his fantastical power to communicate with cats.
With just a flying disk and movable lighting bars in terms of set, the pressure is all on the actors to bring the tale to life.  Each actor speaks and moves with individuality, so much so that at times it is difficult to keep your eyes on one person.  The audience is left astounded by a section of awe-inspiring gymnastics on a suspended hoop by the young Lisa Kerr (who plays a variety of roles in the production.)  Also particularity admirable is acute use of cat mannerisms which allow Adetomiwa Edun to make quick transitions from animal form to human form naturally and effectively.  With no props to aid him, Edun manages to move believingly from the adventurous young Charlie to a hostile lion in just a leap, twirl and feline arm movement.  The superb acting leaves little effort for the imagination.
African style instruments accompany the show, played live by a single musician.  The particular use of the styled instruments is perfect for the setting of the tale, which mostly takes place in Africa.  In addition to this, the actors’ own voices are atmospheric and blend well together to create tension in the most hair-rising sections of the play.  No corny solos ruin the ambience.
One of the most difficult aspects of children entertainment is the children’s short attention span.  However, the strategically placed twenty minute interval fifty minutes into the show provides a perfect opportunity for the younger ones to refresh, and during the show the use of visual creations such as a lion face created by the shadow of three people does not fail to keep the audience’s eyes on the stage.  Similarly to The Britain’s Got Talent 2013 winner, Attraction, who shadow danced their way to the throne, this creative form of entertainment has proved itself to be a big winner with the general public.
Although the interaction with the audience throughout the play also makes the performance more interesting, the cheesy ten to fifteen minute boxing match at the end of the show is a big let-down, in my opinion.  The match, which is between The Corporacy and Charlie, requires the audience to cheer for their preferred side, turning the production into a cheap pantomime, which brings the professionalism of the show down a notch.  The boxing match, which is obviously intended to be an interesting way to get across the positives and negatives of The Corporacy’s controversial methods of finding the cure for asthma, is overly cheesy and drags on.  I personally feel that the actors are a little too reliant on the audience’s responses rather than their own acting skills.
Ultimately, I would recommend Lionboy to anyone looking for an entertaining evening.  With enough visual effects to keep children’s attention and plenty of thought-provoking ideas and superb acting to keep adults and teens more than satisfied, it’s sure to provide a spectacular show.  Although the cheesiness of the boxing match drags down the overall standard of the show, Lionboy is worth a trip to your nearest theatre.