Hunt,Leigh, Theatre Criticism

Abstract

Before William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, or Samuel Taylor Coleridge made their own contributions to the tone, shape, and content of dramatic criticism, Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) had already transformed the theatre review into a new generic form. Up to that time, Hunt explained later in hisAutobiography, influence and quid pro quo favours dictated the content of the reviews (1870: 138–139). Impartiality, however, was not the only requisite. The critic also needed to assert a standard for both the play and the performance. Such a standard imposed higher expectations than could be achieved on the stage. Playwrights and performers could be applauded for their originality, insight, and power, but they must also be measured against the best models of theatrical tradition. Inevitably, then, theatre criticism ‘must of necessity blame as well as praise’ (1870: 121). Critical judgement, Hunt lamented, got in the way of spontaneous enjoyment: ‘Never, after I had taken critical pen in hand, did I pass the thoroughly delightful evenings at the playhouse which I had done when I went only to laugh or be moved’ (123). Among his several strategies for reasserting audience spontaneity, Hunt recalled unruly crowds and frequently scripted an audience response. As Alexander Pope demonstrated in his ‘Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot’, the interlocutor can provide an effective counter‐voice to an argument. As leverage against the critic's praise and blame, Hunt introduced an unnamed auditor: one seated next to him, who whispered his comments, or one who would shout from the gallery. By thus scripting voices from the audience, Hunt theatricalized his theatre reviews. He also appealed to his reader as a fellow playgoer, suggesting how ‘You’ might have responded to a scene. Hunt demonstrated early in his career a narrative skill for vivid verbal re‐enactments of a performance, and as he matured and developed as a critic he also drew skilfully on ‘then and now’ comparisons, inserting recollections of past performances into the current review.