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Barratt defended
This in response to the two letters printed in last week’s Mirror
entitled “Hate Literature?” and in defense of Amy Barratt’s
review of Katheryna’s Dreams [“Insane in the Ukraine,”
March 7]. I am so sick of reading irate Letters to the Editor, written
by theatregoers who aggressively attack the authors of negative theatre
reviews. What’s wrong with a bad review? The fact is that some
theatre is shit.
And the only way that one can trust a critic is if the critic is honest
(i.e. reports on both good and bad productions). Apparently Mr. Halchuk
and Ms. Olynyk are offended by the unfairly “hateful” remarks
penned by Ms. Barratt. Having read the review myself, I find Ms Barratt’s
language quite tame in comparison to words like “revolting,”
“asinine,” “racist” and “denigrating”
that pepper the letters of Mr. Halchuk and Ms. Olynyk.
Ms. Olynyk complains that “after quoting two paragraphs from [Katheryna’s
Dreams’] press kit, Ms. Barratt is stumped for something to say.
Her opening line is ‘What more can I add?’” Good question,
in my estimation. The two paragraphs quoted from the press kit are rife
with such poorly constructed, convoluted sentences that I would be embarrassed
to distribute such crap to anyone.
It seems to me that Ms. Barratt’s review of Katheryna’s Dreams
is a fair, albeit sarcastic, response to her experience of the play.
Sarcasm, of course, is a stylistic decision that contributes to the
individual writing style of the critic. Oh, wait, I forgot, according
to Ms. Olynyk, one of Ms. Barratt’s worst crimes is being “biased.”
God forbid that a critic might write something subjective (certainly
not a defining principle of criticism).
Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Ms. Barratt was not enamoured
of Katheryna’s Dreams. Mr. Halchuk and Ms. Olynyk apparently were.
Couldn’t we reduce this mini war of words to an exaggerated example
of tomayto/tomahto? Or perhaps this is an instance of Mr. Halchuk’s
and Ms. Olynyk’s pot calling Ms. Barratt’s kettle black.
Oops, is calling a kettle black considered hateful language? I wouldn’t
want to offend anyone.
—Anna Phelan
Alanis
confusion
Regarding Lorraine Carpenter’s review of Alanis Morissette’s
latest (brilliant) effort, Under Rug Swept [Compact Discs, Feb. 28].
I just wanted to clarify some misinformation. This is, in fact, Alanis’
fifth studio album, not fourth. She released two dance/pop albums before
going cred with Jagged Little Pill, the eponymous ’91 debut and
’92’s Now Is the Time.
These things should be caught before going to print! People may make
fun of those first two albums, but they were damn good pop/dance albums,
especially coming from a Canadian, and they should not be overlooked—even
if Alanis herself wishes they were.
—Damion
J. Rowan
[Ed.’s
reply: We stand corrected, but wonder why you neglected to mention her
MTV Unplugged release, which would bring the Alanis album total to six.]
Better
than cow tipping
After an amazing 11 days “dans la grande ville de Montréal,”
I have to say that one of the highlights for me is being able to read
the Mirror. It sounds pretty sad, but we just don’t have anything
like it here in New Brunswick. Halifax has the Coast and we here in
Fredericton have, well, nothing that compares to the Mirror. It’s
not fair, I say! But then again, there’s not enough going on in
this pathetic city to warrant wasting the paper to print it. Every time
I go to Montreal, the first thing I do is pick up a copy and drool over
the things that I can’t do once I leave.
Until I am able to move up and join the millions, I just wanted to say
this: I love the Mirror, and the people of Montreal are lucky to have
what they have. You can do anything any night of the week, you get top-of-the-line
DJs (by the way, I was disappointed with Carl Cox or maybe that’s
just me getting old), fantastic art shows… Hell, you have a nightlife
that doesn’t consist of getting drunk and tipping cows and that
alone is reason to rejoice. So please, enjoy what you have because there
are so many of us who have to live without. Cheers.
—Leanne
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