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When the National Theatre turned 50 a few weeks ago, ‘Arena’ produced two excellent, objective examinations of the institution's history, making theatre seem thrilling to the layman. Anyone seeking the same here will be left stone cold by this awful hagiography of the Royal Court’s new artistic director. Despite being given the veneer of hip and youthful accessibility (bright and breezy editing, stabs of pop music etc), there’s a deep-seated snobbishness at heart.
At its worst, it assumes the viewer is so familiar with the Royal Court that any explanation of basic facts is passé. How big is it? What is its history? Is it publicly funded? Good luck trying to find out. That feeling of inadequacy isn’t exactly helped by the show’s host, Clemency Burton-Hill – formerly of St Paul’s Girls School, Westminster and Cambridge. She even tells us ‘I’ve been coming to this theatre since I was a little girl.’ Lucky you CBH, lucky you.
As for Featherstone herself, it takes a whopping 23 minutes before any critical examination of her tenure is offered. Burton-Hill’s style of questioning is depressingly lightweight (‘…and how did it feel when…?’) and precious few actual audience members or punters are asked for their views. A frustrating and cringeworthy disappointment.