Not quite the ticket

We’ve given several examples in the book of misleading theatre and film reviews. We’ve also mentioned how Sony conjured up a wholly fictitious film reviewer to give glowing blurbs for their movies. But, thanks to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which became law throughout the EU last year, we are supposed to have seen an end to the habit of truncating critics’ damning reviews to mean something else entirely.

It should no longer be possible for a review for a theatrical musical that read, “If schoolboy innuendo is your bag, book now”, to become, on posters outside the theatre, “Book now”.

However, it appears that isn’t so. Charles Spencer, theatre critic of The Daily Telegraph has written about the stage version of The Shawshank Redemption which is shortly to close. “Outside the theatre, there’s a quote from my review in which I appear to be describing the stage show ‘as a superbly gripping, genuinely uplifting drama’. In fact, I was writing about the original film at that point. And my review continued: ‘In almost every respect, however, the stage version is inferior to the movie’.”

Oddly, they didn’t print that bit.

If anyone knows of any other examples of such artistic Zebu, whether from theatre or cinema, do let us know.