More than 1,500 hours were spent by theatre critic Marijn Lems last year in theatres, in front of TV and, most importantly, with games. That's a lot of time and it raises questions. Questions especially about how you organise your time as a journalist, and how you divide it between watching art for work and what we will call 'normal life'. That's what this podcast is about, for just under three quarters of an hour.
We talk about sleeping at The Warm Shop and other embarrassing moments. But also about games, and how they affect your daily life. And what it's like to follow the world entirely through a screen in 2020.
Dramaturgy
'Am I still getting out enough? Am I still in touch with the real world enough to get the audience's perspective? I think there are many like-minded people in the theatre world, not only in terms of art but also in political outlook. I just think I do guard against seeing life as a theatre performance.'
On the target audience: 'I write for people who do not shy away from the adventurous in art, but in NRC I am not allowed to use word 'dramaturgy'. 'Intersectionality' is also a term NRC readers don't understand. I do use terms like that in specialist media like Theaterkrant.'
Texts
'I know I am read because people who know me sometimes suddenly see my name in the newspaper, but I never really look at letters. During the corona period, we did write an article with NRC about reading theatre texts, and that did get reactions from readers, who really liked the fact that we paid attention to it. So there is interest in texts among these readers.'
'The average taste of critics differs from that of ordinary viewers. Critics' tastes are also much more similar among themselves than those of ordinary viewers. Apparently, your taste is determined by how much you watch.'
We may talk about the latter topic next time.
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