Mark Shenton moans about going to the theatre... again

I know as a reviewer I would find it extremely difficult to travel to Sheffield, Plymouth, Manchester to see a show and thankfully I only have to worry about the region I review and am responsible for. I do regularly travel nearly 2hrs to Chichester or 55mins to Southampton so in a way I understand the difficulties in getting out to another area. Chichester as mentioned in the link in the above post is notoriously difficult to get to. Personally I could not manage it by train and it would take me more than 15mins to negotiate the roads, not to mention the petrol or parking fees to get to some venues. That aside if a newspaper cannot pay for a London centric journo to review then perhaps they should send someone that lives closer to the venue. It's what The Reviews Hub does. It's a shame What's on Stage don't feel fit to review in the regions anymore, but personally just because a reviewer doesn't review out of their area I really don't have a problem with that.
I don't mind Mark Shenton and after all if any of us were offered free tickets to a show and we could have our costs paid too I doubt any of us would turn it down

To be fair, if I had his health troubles, I wouldn't much fancy a four-hour round trip, with potentially another 3 hours sitting in a theatre seat, either!

When I said about free ticket I wasn't having a major dig and the Trafalgar Studio isn't the only uncomfortable theatre in London, the ultra modern St James so too. I also give home a lot of credit, that he covers more ground than any other critic and will cover the spit and sawdust places the 'fully fledged' theatre critics dare not go.

Not aware of Mark's health issues?

Again, to be fair... We need only take a look at our 'bad behaviour' thread to see we do the same... ?

Just to clarify: I firstly agree with the points in the article, as others have said we all moan about it.

I'm also not complaining that a London based critic sees things mostly in London, that itself is perfectly understandable. What I don't like is his attitude (and others it's not exclusively a Shenton thing) that there is nothing 'worth seeing' outside of London, something he and a few other London critics frequently take swipes at. London theatre is amazing, but there are plenty of regional producing houses who make work comparable and better than London. I'm not asking Shenton and co to see them (indeed leave some work for regional critics) I'm asking for them to be respectful and not dismiss anything outside of London as not worth anyone's time.

Isn't he some sort of journalist? Can't he write more of an article than a whinge? Any idiot can get on the internet and say "THEATRES ARE UNCOMFORTABLE", lord knows we do it here all the time, but he is a person of note with a respectably sized audience who could actually make a difference if he focused his writing on what theatres could be doing better rather than using his column to remind you he's had hip replacements. Or at the very least he could look into audience ages and point out that with X many audience members over the age of Y, there's a very good chance that by failing to improve accessibility, theatres risk wiping out their core audience. He has the audience and, I expect, the connections necessary for more interesting articles that might help to effect change, so why doesn't he write them?

The same people who complain about facilities and comfort, are the first one to remind that our cathedrals of culture are listed buildings and remind you so, if someone dares to propose any changes.

Shenton's hip replacement means that he needs seats to be at the right height for him or he has problems. So theatre reviewing's not such an ideal job from that perspective. And it is a chronic problem.

Well I certainly don't get paid for reviewing, I get a free ticket and pay for myself to get to and from the theatre. London to Sheffield is over 3hrs and you would need an overnight stop to get back from there to London after a Press Night......assuming you could get to the station and on your train by 9.30pm. 
I agree that there are fabulous regional productions but Shenton doesn't have to cover them all. There are plenty of enthusiastic bloggers and regional journalists that can cover many of these productions.
you can't please all the people all of the time

I have briefly browsed over this thread, I have no care for Shenton or his opinion on anything so I haven't read the articles.
But what I do feel I want to say is, its all well and good to moan about theatre facilities and seating, but some of these theatres are hundreds or years old, they make up part of our history and I for one, love going into an old theatre and appreciating the decor and simplicity. When a lot of these theatres were built disabled people just wouldn't go, therefore not all theatres would have the facilities to accommodate them and while yes some theatres have made adaptions to accommodate them now, it may not always be possible without making major changes that would take away the beauty and class of the place. A theatre cannot simply Magic the space to put in an extra toilet on a floor that is easily accessible.
When I go to a show I go for escapism, to enjoy the show and lose myself for 2 and half hours in someone else's story, I don't go and inspect the toilet facilities or rate the comfiness of the seat. If Shenton doesn't like the conditions and facilities in these theatres then I'm sure there are thousands of people out there who would be willing to take that free ticket off his hands and go and enjoy the show, for the show! That person would then probably be able to write a respectable review about the show, cast, dancing, singing, acting and overall performance, a review that people thinking of seeing the show would be able to read to make a decision on whether to go or not, not a review on how big the toilet is or how long I may have to queue. Those types of things are what sites like TheatreMonkey are for, not "professional" reviews.

And yet much space is given over to the bar, which is used for a tiny proportion of the evening, and the sweet/merchandise stands which a tiny proportion of the audience use. I imagine most people would rather have a comfortable seat for that escapist 2.5 hours and the ability to have a wee in the interval, than buy outrageously priced "refreshments". I know I would. 

Its perfectly possible to preseve the character and beauty of these places but redesign them so that they meet the needs of modern audiences. Cameron Mackintosh has done it. The reason others don't is underinvestment and greed. And the fact that people keep putting up with it. 

Yes, indeed - we all know that there are certain theatres where the cheap seats are a false economy, becuase you simply can't get properly drawn into the performance on stage from them.