The School for Scandal (RSC)
In an age when fake news is rampant, conspicuous consumption thrives and self-presentation are the obsession, the production successfully exposes the paradox that exposing oneself is also a social
Criticks – BSECS online reviews
The eighteenth century was the first great age of criticism. In this spirit, the Criticks website provides entertaining, informative and provocative reviews of events and media that are of interest to scholars of the eighteenth century. These complement the reviews of books that are published in the journal of the Society, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Plays, concerts, operas, exhibitions, films, broadcasts and online resources are here considered in depth by experts in the field. If there is an event that you would like to see reviewed in these pages, or if you would like to review for us, please contact one of the editors below:
Criticks Editor
Criticks Subject Editors
Fine and Decorative Art: Miriam Al Jamil
Media: Gráinne O’Hare
Music: Brianna Robertson-Kirkland
Theatre: Katie Noble
The School for Scandal (RSC)
I hope that more theatre companies take note of what the RSC has done with this production: I would love for it to spark more smart, confident, and above all, hilarious eighteenth-century revivals.
The School for Scandal (Tilted Wig)
This School for Scandal is indeed a tonic and I thoroughly recommend that you see it.
The Divine Mrs S
The Divine Mrs S is an urgent appeal for women to externalise their feelings of injustice and emotion. It’s a call for release.
The Welkin
The Welkin is refreshingly humble: the characters are women from all levels of the socio-economic hierarchy and the story is not grand with far-reaching ramifications.
Northanger Abbey (by Zoe Cooper, from the novel by Jane Austen)
A queer adaptation of Austen’s playful novel reimagines Northanger Abbey for the BookTok generation.
“Sancho & Me” at BSECS 2024
The performance was not a lecture but a tale that spanned hundreds of years, a narrative about finding yourself in a world that has not wished to see or acknowledge you.
Paradise Lost (dir. Joseph Winters)
Baigent, Winters, the cast and crew, created, with this production, a work that brings Milton’s Paradise Lost and the modern world into conversation, in an utterly captivating night of
Jack Absolute Flies Again
While Jack Absolute Flies Again was much better received than that first version of The Rivals, I was nevertheless left wishing for a touch of rewriting.
Dangerous Liaisons (Northern Ballet)
A complex emotional and sensual performance that was matched with equally beautiful music.