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Article: Critical loss of prestige
- Article from:
- The Spectator
- Article date:
- November 9, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Spectator Nov 9, 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Harry Eyres considers what it is that has caused a puncturing of self-image among theatre critics
Theatre criticism, recently dimmed by the death of Jack Tinker, is not enjoying one of its most glorious phases. The last really bright star was Kenneth Tynan, whose heyday was the 1950s. The current practitioners are a distinguished, immensely experienced band, but they are predominantly male and middle-aged, in some cases later middle-aged. Wisdom may well increase with age, but incandescence tends to diminish. Not only incandescence, but also, in their case, column inches, and the invaluable quality of prestige not so much with the theatrical world as with their readers.
Glamour has only ...