Comments on: Bite for lunch at the Barbican http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2008/07/15/bite-for-lunch-at-the-barbican/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:10:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Job http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2008/07/15/bite-for-lunch-at-the-barbican/#comment-15730 Job Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:56:27 +0000 http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2008/07/15/bite-for-lunch-at-the-barbican/#comment-15730 "That show was a highlight of the Avignon Festival, which I read about on holiday in Spain last week, along with the latest from Belgian genius Jan Fabre; why no Fabre, I ask Sheffield? Because I don’t like him much he says, wrinkling his nose." I'm shocked, Michael, that one man's personal prejudices should be given as a valid reason for preventing the rest of us from experiencing the work of a major artist. How else are the rest of us going to discover such people and make up our own minds about them? We're self-satisfied enough on these shores as it is, and Bite is one of the few organisations with a remit to look outwards and show us what goes on beyond the English Channel. I understand that as Artistic Director Graham Sheffield has to make tricky decisions and exercise artistic discretion, but this high-handedness smacks of the cultural fascism with which William Glock so notoriously ruled the Radio 3 airways in less enlightened times. He was a disgraceful man who stifled the careers of many important composers by depriving them of the oxygen of airtime. Mr Sheffield should not lose sight of his duty to <i>represent</i> us as our curator of the best in modern world theatre. The Barbican is not his personal toybox. Job “That show was a highlight of the Avignon Festival, which I read about on holiday in Spain last week, along with the latest from Belgian genius Jan Fabre; why no Fabre, I ask Sheffield? Because I don’t like him much he says, wrinkling his nose.”

I’m shocked, Michael, that one man’s personal prejudices should be given as a valid reason for preventing the rest of us from experiencing the work of a major artist. How else are the rest of us going to discover such people and make up our own minds about them? We’re self-satisfied enough on these shores as it is, and Bite is one of the few organisations with a remit to look outwards and show us what goes on beyond the English Channel.

I understand that as Artistic Director Graham Sheffield has to make tricky decisions and exercise artistic discretion, but this high-handedness smacks of the cultural fascism with which William Glock so notoriously ruled the Radio 3 airways in less enlightened times. He was a disgraceful man who stifled the careers of many important composers by depriving them of the oxygen of airtime. Mr Sheffield should not lose sight of his duty to represent us as our curator of the best in modern world theatre. The Barbican is not his personal toybox.

Job

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