In Boston and elsewhere around the country the mental backbone of criticism is turning to mush and nobody seems to care. Anybody can sling arrows of praise and blame. Analysis gives readers the opportunity to evaluate a critic's judgment, to see if he or she can make sense of his reactions to a show . Readers and theater companies don't have to agree with me, but I should reinforce my case with arguments and evidence. If not, I am a blurber rather than an evaluator.
Theater criticism has a role to play as a pragmatic consumer guide.
But that doesn't mean critics have to accept the demeaning role so readily. Reviewers have to cram more matter into less and less space. Few publications give their theater critics room enough to develop their views or forge an argument. I can expound but not explicate. But technology has changed these restrictions.