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by Matthew Norgate and Peter Hepple
The Critics Circle is not a trade union but a professional association of critics of drama, music, the cinema and dance. As such it has no power but plenty of prestige and not a little influence. Its objects are to promote the art of criticism and to uphold its integrity in practice, to foster and safeguard the interests of its members, to provide opportunities for social intercourse among them, and to support the advancement of the arts. Admission to membership is by invitation of the Council, who in assessing the qualifications of a candidate are influenced though not bound by the recommendations of the Circle’s component Sections.
In 1907 a Society of Dramatic Critics was formed. Among those present at its inaugural dinner were A B Walkley, in the chair, J T Grein and John Parker. By 1913 the society had become inactive, and Sir Robert Donald, editor of the Daily Chronicle, and President of the Institute of Journalists, suggested to his dramatic critic S R Littlewood that critics might with advantage be organised in a new body under the auspices of the Institute. Littlewood put the proposal to Grein, and he, with Parker in support was enthusiastic, meetings were convened and the Critics’ Circle was born. At its first general meeting William Archer was elected President, and Littlewood its Honorary Secretary, to be succeeded in 1925 by Parker, who remained in that office until his death in 1952. In 1913 he had just finished editing the first edition of his now famous Who’s Who in the Theatre.
Music as well as drama critics were declared eligible for membership of the Circle, and indeed the very first notice to be written by a member was of a pianoforte recital at the Queen’s Hall, to be followed a few nights later by the first play to be covered, George Alexander’s last revival, starring Mrs Patrick Campbell and himself, of The Second Mrs Tanqueray. In those early days the Circle was associated with the Institute of Journalists, and meetings were held in its hall in Tudor Street. The subscription was five shillings. With the three founders being drama critics it was perhaps natural, if a little unkind, that the music members were styled the Music Committee, whereas the drama representatives were named members, an anomaly not put right until many years later. In 1916 women were first admitted to membership.
In the following year a List of Members was issued (there were 80) with a foreword stating that the Circle had been able to mediate successfully in several cases of differences of opinion between individual critics and theatrical managers and concert directors. This was the forerunner of many such intercessions, one of the most notable being the case of E Arnot Robertson, who in 1948 brought an action for libel and slander against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film company, and was awarded £1,500 damages and costs, but this judgement was reversed on appeal, and again on a further appeal to the House of Lords. The total cost to Miss Robertson was over £8,000, but the Circle raised the money, from its own funds, from individual members, and from the public.
Another feature of the Circle’s activities was its annual dinner. Guests at these functions have embraced practically every leading practitioner of the performing arts - except Sir Thomas Beecham and Peter Sellers, both of whom accepted but did not turn up. In 1922, with Walkley in the chair, one of the guests was Sir James Barrie, who dispensed with such formalities as “Mr President, ladies and gentlemen”, and began his speech: “Scum. Critics to the right of him, critics to the left of him, critics upper entrance at back leading to conservatory, critics downstage centre, into that Circle someone has blundered”. The chairman at these dinners was always the current President of the Circle, many of them have been celebrities in themselves.
At another dinner, in 1936, Sir Seymour Hicks presented to the Circle one of his most treasured possessions, Charles Dickens' crystal drinking goblet, asking that it be used by the President ‘on all high occasions’.
At the Theatrical Garden Party, then an annual event in aid of the Actors' Orphanage, the attractions in 1925 included a short play written for the occasion by Ivor Brown with prologue spoken by Charles Morgan. The cast were all drama members of the Circle, and notices appeared in the next day’s papers written by Seymour Hicks, George Grossmith, Evelyn Laye, Madge Titheradge, Gertrude Elliott and Lady Diana Manners, who all presented their fees to the charity.
Film critics became eligible for membership of the Circle in 1926, to be followed by critics of ballet in 1951. In 1940 the designations Music Committee and Film Committee were at last abandoned and the three categories became the Drama, Music, Film and Ballet (later renamed Dance) Sections, with a degree of individual powers, provided that their proceedings were reported to the main Council. A Television and Radio Section was inaugurated in 1971, but this was abandoned a few years later because of the formation of the Broadcasting Press Guild.
For many years the Circle held out against the granting of awards, on the ground that criticism is essentially a matter of personal opinion and judgement and that any collective pronouncements are therefore worthless, since minority views would not be represented. Every individual favourable notice, it was argued, was an award in itself. This was upheld by a small majority in a 1956 referendum, though only some 20 per cent of members voted. However, this decision was reversed by a further referendum in 1980. The Film Section was first off the mark in organising awards, which in the last few years have grown to the extent that the Critics' Circle Film Awards, known for some years as the ALFS, are now staged in a large West End hotel, attracting many celebrities from the industry and being accepted as an extremely prestigious honour. Since 1994 they have been in aid of the NSPCC and have raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds. The Drama Section awards are deliberately more informal, being presented by the critics themselves at a lunchtime gathering, which ensures that a high proportion of the winners are present. The Dance awards were inaugurated in 2000.
Since 1988 the Circle as a whole has presented a special award to honour those who have rendered long and distinguished service to the arts. This now takes the form of a luncheon to which the winner is invited. The first was Sir Peter Hall, the most recent being Tom Stoppard. Others to whom the award has been presented are Dame Ninette de Valois, Sir Michael Tippett, Sir David Lean, Sir John Mills, Sir Peter Ustinov, Sir John Drummond, Sir Peter Wright, Sir Richard Eyre,Pail Scofield, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Edward Downes, Harold Pinter, Alan Bennett and Dame Helen Mirren.
ARCHIVES: The Critics' Circle archives are held in the Jerwood Library of Performing Arts in Greenwich. Funded by a £1.2 million grant from the Jerwood Foundation, the Jerwood Library occupies a section of Trinity College of Music's new home in Greenwich. Running the length of one floor in the King Charles Court at the Old Royal Naval College, the library provides excellent facilities for students, researchers and the public. It includes the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection, assembled by former actors Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, which is rich in material from drama, opera, ballet, musicals, dance, cabaret, variety, music hall and pantomime. The late JC and Wendy Trewin donated a substantial collection of books, and books, programmes and reviews belonging to the late Felix Barker are to be found here. It is within this section of the Jerwood Library that the Circle's archive is housed.
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