Blog
Billboard Balderdash
29th May 2008
It is so easy and so tempting. The first night has been savaged by a theatre critic whose pen is renowned for being mightier than the sword. Your audiences are set to dwindle and that bill board outside the theatre needs to have a selective quote to pull in the passing trade. For years, desperate impresarios have been guilty of misleading potential theatre-goers by incredibly selective quotation of choice phrases from damning reviews. But now the European Union looks set to intervene in a classic case of information failure. If misquoted reviews are shown to have had an impact on audience members’ decisions to buy tickets then theatre-owners may be open to financial penalties. The Independent had some cracking examples in their edition today:
Zipp Duchess Theatre, 2003
Extract: “Book now”
Full version (Independent on Sunday): “If schoolboy innuendo is your bag, book now.”
Sinatra London Palladium, 2006
Extract: “Energy, razzmatazz and technical wizardry”
Full version (The Observer): “For all the energy, razzmatazz and technical wizardry, the audience had been short-changed”.
Saturday Night Fever Apollo Victoria, 2004
Extract: “All-out retro-romp”
Full version (The Times): “If it’s an all-out retro-romp you want, this only fitfully delivers.”
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.