Author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz has slated the theatre industry for giving away free tickets to critics.
Horowitz, the writer of ‘The Diamond Brother’ series and two Sherlock Holmes novels, was speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival when he voiced his concerns over the tradition of handing out complimentary tickets to journalists to review shows.
As reported in the Times, Horowitz said: “As a board member of the Old Vic I don’t know why we give these people free tickets on the first night. Yes of course it might get four or five stars and that sort of helps us, but when they don’t and when they come in and are horrible about somebody’s work that just makes me angry.”
Describing the sector as “brutal, horrible”, Horowitz spoke directly to the audience saying “you have no idea how awful theatre is”.
He added: “Everyone in the room can have an opinion about the play, but if your opinion about the play is put into a newspaper it appears to elevate it.
“Theatre critics have the power of getting you on the first night.”
‘Dinner with Saddam,’ a play written by Horowitz in 2015, received several poor reviews. A one-star review called the play “a dismal, simultaneously undercooked and over-spiced affair” while another “found this comedy set in Iraq on the cusp of the Iraq War about as funny as I found the actual Iraq War”.
The writer, who has also written for Midsomer Murders, suggested that the play was “brutalised by a large number of critics” because of his success in other media.
“I am quite convinced that theatre doesn’t want me, I am too much of a parvenu, too busy elsewhere,” he said.
Horowitz said that after the critical reviews of Dinner with Saddam, he will publish his newly written play under a pseudonym.
* Since this story was published, Anthony Horowitz has claimed he was misquoted by The Times. Read more here: Anthony Horowitz: It’s right to give free tickets to theatre critics
Image: Alan Cleaver
Share this