London’s Critical Divide

Nicholas Hytner says men dominate London’s theatre criticism. But, writes Lyn Gardner, “I think something else is going on here and I think it is to do with the way in which critics are appointed and stay in our jobs until we finally keel over in the aisle seats like budgies falling off a perch. That shouldn’t be a problem as long as energy and enthusiasm are in tact, but it can be if curiosity is lost and those aisle seats are the same ones in the same theatres for more than 30 years.”