Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Jerk

Okay, this is a wee bit after the fact, but I’ve been wanting to mention it to ANYONE and EVERYONE ever since I heard about it – and actually HAVE to the annoyance of my closest friends – as a perfect example of the degradation of theatre criticism in Los Angeles.  I’m referring to the 2007 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Awards – and more specifically – to Circle X’s Production of Love Loves a Pornographer garnering the 2007 LADCC Best Play Award.

Now, before I really dig in here, a couple of disclaimers: I don’t know the playwright Jeff Goode personally and I am utterly unfamiliar with any of his other work which I’m sure is brilliant; I’m also, for the most part, a big fan of Circle X’s work and find them to be one of the most entertaining and theatrically adventurous companies in LA.

Okay, that’s done.

I walked out of Love Loves a Pornographer.  And I never, repeat, NEVER walk out of theatre – no matter how grating and insufferable it may be.  Mostly, because I can almost always find something to like in a show, or at least, to amuse myself in a show, no matter how horrendous.  Sometimes a show’s essential “horrendousness” is all I need to entertain myself.  But I walked out on Love Loves a Pornographer.  And then when I read it had won Best Play from LADCC, the supposed, “critical body of record” for Los Angeles – I was stunned.  For a second.  And then my cynic-engine kicked back in and I said to myself, “And people wonder why LA theatre isn’t taken seriously?”

Now again, I apologize to everyone involved with the show for my rather general dismissal, to be honest, the set was exquisite (almost worth sitting through the second act), and a couple of the performaces were pretty good, but the writing was awful in my opinion, and the direction even worse; a farce of a farce, no dramatic through-line, sub plots brought up and discarded, tone shifting willy nilly, jokes staid and predictable, no real movement to the action, characters like cardboard cut-outs, just a mess.   And it wasn’t just me noticing this.  I have a handful of friends who saw the show on separate occasions and concur wholeheartedly with my opinion.  To a man.  And a woman.

So how the hell did this play win 2007 Best Play from LADCC?  

Madeline Shaner, the critic, mentioned in an earlier post here at Bitter Lemons, that she considered LADCC to be the only “legitimate body of critics in L.A”, and that all of its members were ”accomplished theatre people”.  So how then am I supposed to take this supposedly “legitimate” and “accomplished” theatre organization seriously when they reward mediocrity?  And how the hell is anyone else supposed to take them seriously?  How are theatre towns like New York and Chicago and Seattle supposed to take US seriously when we heap accolades on such obviously flawed theatre?

Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe most people liked the show.  Maybe it says more about me than it does about the LA theatre community at large.  Maybe you think I’m just full of sour grapes?  Maybe.  All that said, I of course congratulate Jeff and Circle X for their accomplishment, and always, always, wish nothing but success on everyone who toils in this business of ours, but I stand by what I’ve written.  And I would love to hear from those who saw the show and have the balls to offer their honest opinion.  If we’re going to be a real theatre community we have to be able to have real honest discussions about the quality of our work and the quality of our critics’ work.  I know that’s a difficult thing to embrace in a town like Los Angeles, a town that overtly rewards shimmer, shine and the art of the pose, but it has to be done if we want to grow up as a theatre town.  And I would especially like to hear from those LADCC members who committed this travesty.

It’s funny.  The more I write on this blog, the more I realize how much I’m setting myself up to be destroyed by the critics the next time I mount one of my plays.  Oh well.  One never grows in this world without a certain level of risk.

Maybe it’ll actually get ‘em out to the show next time.