Theatre, like all the arts, is a matter of personal opinion and taste. What one person loves, another can possess surprisingly aggressive negative views on. This is useful to remember when not only watching, but creating performances for others. On the one hand, it helps to put my own thoughts about the productions I see in perspective, and - similarly - to deal with the varying opinions I encounter about my own work. Including my own.
Surely this is what makes the arts so interesting - they are life-responsive and rely on honest feedback to thrive. As artists we must find our audience, but I think that there is an audience out there for everyone, no matter how left-field your work might be. We are none of us unique enough to find no one sharing our taste.
So...bearing all this in mind...where does personal taste rank with quality and professionalism in the assessment of a piece of theatre? E.g. in awarding prizes like the Olivier awards. Or, to put it another way, how can you honestly judge a piece of work alongside another, when one is not to your own taste? Is there such a thing as lack of bias in the arts? Should there be?
Just a thought.
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