Counterpunch to Critic’s Review

I suppose there is no point in arguing with the content of Ray Loynd’s vitriolic review (Times, July 16) of the “One-Act Festival” at the Basement Theatre, since everyone is entitled to an opinion. (One might hope for a more-informed opinion. For example, his objection to the title “Marble Medusa” misses the whole point of the last play, the clear references to the Perseus legend.)

However, his logic escapes me completely. It makes no sense to decry the low level of small theatrical activity in Pasadena, while in the same breath characterizing an attempt to do something about it with such comments as “excruciatingly inaccessible,” “tortured and torturous experiments,” “thankless roles,” “pompously titled,” “wretched play,” etc.

How can such a diatribe serve to encourage further endeavors? The overall message is about the same as that of a hunter complaining that not enough deer come out for him to shoot.

Consider the effort that goes into creating and putting on such a production: If Mr. Loynd is not prepared to devote even a small fraction of that effort while watching what he calls inaccessible plays, then he should stick to Neil Simon or Rodgers and Hammerstein, and send someone else to review more-difficult experimental work.

JAY A. LABINGER

Pasadena