1/08/2005|||110521275073889187||||||

JERRY SPRINGER - THE OVERKILL

Is "Jerry Springer - The Opera" blasphemous? Probably, but only in the same trivial manner as a hundred stand-up jokes. Should the BBC be screening it? Probably not. That kind of attention-seeking is best left to Channel 4. It's depressing to see the Beeb turning the broadcast into a Great Cultural Event, complete with Ruby Wax interview.

I saw the musical at the National some time ago, and as you can see from my Washington Times review, I was extremely underwhelmed. The show won no end of awards, which was no surprise really as it appeals to a certain type of theatre critic. (The swearing, incidentally, is ultimately pretty mild compared with an evening with a comic as raw as Jerry Sadowitz.)

Co-writer Stewart Lee defends the show here. I still prefer playwright Arnold Wesker's assessment:

"Trash is trash and eternally depressing . . . I've long worried that the theatre has lost audiences because the moment the curtain rises both intellectual and emotional expectations drop. This show, I fear, introduces a new dimension: audiences will feel intimidated to be caught not liking it."

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2005/01/jerry-springer-overkill-is-jerry.html|||1/08/2005 07:21:00 pm|||||||||

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