A Friend Indeed

…”I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honor to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, ‘Would he had blotted a thousand,’ which they thought a malevolent speech…”

Ben Jonson 1630

Last night I went to see King Lear staged at the Liverpool Everyman with the actor Pete Postlethwaite in arguably one of the most challenging roles in the theatre. The production received a hard time from the critics and was, in truth, a fairly disjointed affair but ended with tumultuous applause and a standing ovation. It left me thinking about the purpose that underlies criticism and the part critics play in society. Why would an audience rise in admiration when critics could hardly find anything more than a one or two star rating for the same performance.

One of my roles is to act as a critic but I like to use another phrase which is critical friend. It is buzz terminology that came into being during the 1970s education reforms but it does aptly describe how I go about my business.

In terms of a definition

A critical friend can be defined as a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined through another lens, and offers critiques of a person’s work as a friend. A critical friend takes the time to fully understand the context of the work presented and the outcomes that the person or group is working toward. The friend is an advocate for the success of that work - Costa, A. and Kallick, B.(1993) “Through the Lens of a Critical Friend”. Educational Leadership 51(2) 49-51

Last night I started to wonder what the outcome would be if critics, whether they be panelists on TV shows, writing in newspapers or posting blogs, started to use this definition to underpin their criticism , how much more improvement in performance would there be.

Interestingly, Postlethwaite and the cast had done something remarkable with the criticism they received. Most actors tend to state they never read the papers but in a recent BBC interview Postlethwaite agreed with some of the points that had been made. In this case they had used some of that critical comment to make changes to the production. This is a great example of how criticism, or perhaps we should call it feedback, can be turned positively to make a product or service even better. This perhaps gives an indication as to why the audience came to their feet last night to recognise the ‘work’ of the cast and the high performance they put in.

King Lear is at the Liverpool Everyman until this evening and then transfers to the Young Vic running from the end of January 2009 to the end of March 2009.