Critics Criticising Critics in Tynan???

Veteran Guardian critic Michael Billington found himself on the other side of the footlights at this week’s press performance for Tynan, a new one-man show starring Corin Redgrave as the late Kenneth Tynan, renowned drama critic of the Observer and one-time literary manager of the National Theatre. Billington sat as Redgrave’s Tynan recalled reactions to Tyger, a play commissioned by Tynan for the National Theatre in the 1970s. "Worst fears realised - Tyger receives the most venomous reviews I can remember .... Michael Billington in The Times is enthusiastic about the show, but he is a young man." With more than 30 years under his belt, Billington is now the country’s longest still serving theatre critic (See 20 Questions, 29 Dec 2003). Last year, Whatsonstage.com theatregoers voted him the UK’s top critic, whose opinions they most trusted (See Big Debate, May 2003). Based on Tynan's diaries, which he kept from 1970 until his death in 1980, Tynan is now playing at Stratford’s Swan Theatre, as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s inaugural New Work Festival (See News, 28 Sep 2004).

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