‘Utopia’ Is a Bore. There, I Said It.:
Coming from someone who earns his living writing about theater, this may sound like madness, heresy or facile provocation. Even nonprofessional critics — which is to say any member of the audience — may hesitate to register a negative opinion about a play so widely regarded as evincing all the virtues serious theatergoers look for: intelligence, eloquence, sophistication, ambition and, of course, a good dose of medicinal seriousness alongside a balm of wit. Mr. Stoppard’s plays have long been celebrated for all of these qualities, and rightly so.
Some may fear, as my new acquaintance from the plaza did, that to admit dissatisfaction or outright dislike is to advertise one’s intellectual obtuseness or philistinism. The coercive reasoning goes something like this: Everyone says it’s brilliant; I am bored; therefore I am not smart enough to appreciate its brilliance. The play isn’t a failure: I am. I am rushing home to read Isaiah Berlin’s “Russian Thinkers” right now. I mean reread it.
4:06 AM
Dilettante Archives