Theatre critic bites show isn’t news, show bites theatre critic is. Quentin Letts, the political provocateur of Rupert Murdoch’s Times and critic for the Sunday Times, evoked the ire of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London with what he had to say about their revival of the musical Legally Blonde.
He’d moaned about the casting of “fuller-bodied, nonbinary actors”, which he felt turned “the whole thing into a relentlessly zingy assertion of minority pride”.
The theatre subsequently tweeted this response, which, I am reliably informed, refers to Letts. “We are extremely proud of our visionary Legally Blonde and celebrate each and every member of the company.
We’re thrilled with the response to the production from audiences and reviewers alike. We are, however, disappointed by the insensitive language of one review. We expect that everyone comments with respect and sensitivity, and those who decide not to will no longer be invited back to our theatre.”
Letts’s fellow critic Mark Shenton lamented that the newspaper that once employed Harold Hobson and James Agate to write so eloquently and knowledgeably about theatre was now letting down its readers. “Theatre – and the Sunday Times readers who are interested in it – are the real losers,” he says. “Instead of getting a critic who genuinely loves theatre, they instead get a lame controversialist. It’s like the paper is trolling its readers.”
Legally Blonde bites back at Quentin Letts review
His review of Legally Blonde made it clear he wasn’t pleased about the casting of “fuller-bodied, nonbinary actors”
