Course Blog 21 (Courtney)

Chris Jones’s review of “Black Watch” for the Chicago Tribune is, in my opinion, a perfect example of what one should not do in writing a review. Jones spends the first half of the review explaining what the play is not: it is not the play of 18 months ago (historical context has changed); it is not the “sublime” musical “Once;” it is not “simplistic, jingoistic or bathetic;” it is not the same National Theatre of Scotland that played in 2006; it is not the same cast that played 18 months ago; While this kind of information may be useful to someone who has seen the play and is familiar with the National Theatre of Scotland, it seems entirely useless to the audience of a newspaper review. Knowing what the play is not is only helpful in the context of what it is. This review provides little information on what the play is (staging, sound, writing, acting, directing, length, etc.) and it does not give much evaluation of the quality of the play.

I find it quite surprising that Jones felt no desire to mention some of the very surprising elements of the play. This is a play in which the sound was extremely loud, actors played different parts, the entire cast danced at numerous points in the play, sets were destroyed and reconfigured in strange ways, televisions and live video played at various points, to name only a few elements of the play. The tone of the review is, on a whole, quite disinterested. I do not get the sense that Jones felt strongly about the play one way or another, and he seems to have little desire to inform the reader whether or not she should go to see the play. If this is the case, then why title it a “triumphant return?” For, a newspaper review, unlike journal reviews or other reviews, should inform the reader on what the play is and whether or not it is worth seeing. Jones’s review is a lazy piece of journalism that strives, more than anything, to inform the reader as to Jones’s ability to incorporate a wide array of worthless statements and platitudes into his writing. If anything, I feel now only that I should have eaten the shepherd’s pie at St. Andrews pub across the street. At least then I could have a drink to go along with Jones’s awful review.