It maybe helps me start to work out why some stuff sticks. Not because I think you can ever say one piece of art is better than another (obviously, OBVIOUSLY, you can’t), but because I think it’s kind of useful for me in figuring out what I like and why I like it. So look, I’ve decided to go for a ranked list this time. I’ll add, too, that I saw a lot of work by my friends and peers whose absence from this list feels conspicuous in what’s been a really really great year, so I’d like to put it in writing and sign on the dotted line: the work by Poltergeist Theatre, Anna Himali Howard, YESYESNONO, Josh Coates, Joseph Morgan Schofield, Barrel Organ and Breach that I’ve seen this year has humbled and astonished me. Advocacy is definitely my favourite part of being a ~critic~. I hope they might shine a little light on some work that flies under the radar and for whatever reason (form, length of run, size of venue) doesn’t get as much love in the December roundups. I like doing end of year lists on this blog in particular because they tend to end up looking quite different to most of the ones in the mainstream media. I think it’s sort of ok to indulge in the impulse to categorise and organise, as long as we’re agreed that it’s all subjective in the end anyway. Here’s the other thing – I really love lists. I’ve tried to put my finger on what it is about the shows that have longer half-lives – there aren’t any consistent common denominators, of course, but this year (in contrast to previous years) I found myself drawn particularly to carefully crafted fictions, to play and improvisation, to humour and cheekiness, and to brilliant performances. Like other years, I found that some shows stick around whilst others fade away pretty quick, and they’re not always the ones you expect, or even the ones that I’d necessarily say were ‘better’. One Hundred and Eighty-Five shows, my dudes. Including student shows, things I reviewed and counting acts in double/mixed bill nights as separate pieces, the final count for shows I saw this year comes in at 185. Welcome, fellow interweb dwellers, to this special bumper version of my end of year list! Not only do we have the customary fishmonger’s dozen (like a baker’s dozen, but the other side of 12) of theatre, but also films AND albums.
0 kommentar(er)
