Reviewing Irish cultural events..

I wonder about the state of Irish arts criticism. More often than not the critics begin by telling us how disappointed they are that the show they are about to review isn’t the show they want to review so they’ll settle for what’s in front of them (the sigh is almost audible) and off they go. It’s still difficult to find an online listings portal for cultural events in Dublin that includes all art form areas and up until now online reviews were fairly jaded – that is until Dermod Moore decided to put pen to paper and start reviewing theatre in Dublin. Dermod is a journalist with Hot Press and a blogger and he’s been attending Dublin theatre events (and a notable gig starring Barbra Streisand), paying for his own tickets and writing some of the most intelligent and informed reviews I’ve read in quite some time. (His reviews of the shows at the Abbey are top of the Google rankings).I hope the publicity people in Irish cultural venues start paying more attention to Dermod and his ilk, recognising that the power of the blog can be a great marketing and information tool for their events – if word of mouth is what sells a show then shouldn’t all arts organisations be courting bloggers?
Seen here for Dermod’s reviews of the Barbra Streisand gig; The Abbey Theatre’s The Big House; The Codex Leicester; Same but Different at Project and Taylor Mac at Project;