Good week / Bad week

Good week for Spiderman. Despite falling thirty feet during a performance, injured actor Chris Tierney is out of hospital and doesn’t hate the stupid irresponsable show.

Bad week for the theatre. Apparently Lyn Gardner’s gone off it a bit over Christmas. My prediction: she’ll be back.

Good week for Sans Taste. This humble little blog published its first article for a big time proper newspaper (albeit only online), on the seemingly uncontroversial subject of theatre timeliness. Little could anyone anticipate the backlash from those austere puritans who populate comments sections, all of whom seem to arrive about five hours early for the theatre to ensure they’re never late for anything in their entire lives. I am, apparently: childish; incompetent; disrespectful; wrong about many things; overly reliant on personal pronouns; disorganised; snobbish; and, in one of them, seemingly some sort of fascist who wants to crush the working man beneath my jackboot of theatre tardiness.

Bad week for Jim Davidson, who seems to have invaded Belgium or something.  The Glasgow panto at the Pavilion, in which Mr Davidson OBE plays Robin Hood, has been accused of breaking the Geneva convention. No, really. It seems that the costume of Nurse Politis (played by Dean Park – the video here is well worth a watch) included a red cross which is, apparently, incredibly illegal.  The British Red Cross complained to the theatre: “The emblem is a special sign of neutrality and protection recognised by all sides during armed conflicts.  Misuse of that emblem – even when done in an innocent and light-hearted manner – has to be addressed. Repeated and widespread misuse of the Red Cross emblem could dilute its neutrality and its ability to protect.” No comment.

Good week for Keira Knightley fans. The much anticipated Children’s Hour has been extended to 30 April.

Of course none of that really matters a jot, because this week could never be anything except a bad week given that it came with the sad news that Pete Postlethwaite – star of much loved films, political activist, honorary Yorkshireman and seemingly all round decent guy - lost his battle with cancer, aged 64. A great loss.