Flawed Coverage

Not a reference to how my makeup is failing me.

I watched the Olivier awards last night through the BBC red button footage, the first time for me but I also understand that this was the first time in a while that the ceremony was broadcast. Well, sort of.

At the same time I was partaking in what became a minor event on Twitter, as my feed quickly filled with posts by myself and others outraged at the, already scant, coverage being interrupted all too frequently by Paul Gambaccini and Matt Wolf providing radio commentary, interviews and analysis. I might have actually been interested in what they had to say if it was played post-ceremony, or optional (after all, I opted to watch the tv coverage instead of listening to the radio).

As it was the constant cutting away to watch Gambaccini and Wolf eating grapes and analysing the winners was annoying enough, but what I found more upsetting was the choice of material that they interrupted. Twitter burst into outrage, and rightly so, when Best Actress winner (which would have been one of the top three awards in any film award equivalent) Nancy Carrol's speech was skipped over for an interview with Gok Wan declaring himself a West End Wendy.

I'm curious, myself, as to why this happened. It could be, and probably was, just that the ball was dropped. I hear from other blogs that the coverage of Jodie Prenger's enthusiastic red carpet interviews had similar problems, showing a different guest to the one she was announcing. At varying points I gleaned that the ceremony itself was actually running 10 minutes ahead of schedule, and no doubt this caused some stress in the switchboard room and threw the interviewing schedule into disarray. If the ball was dropped, however, it was dropped too many times in the first half.

During the second half the coverage improved vastly, actually staying in the auditorium for lengths of time beyond the brief nominee and winner announcements. Once again I find myself asking why. One would hope that the BBC noticed the criticism they were getting and changed their strategy, but a small part of my can't help but wonder if it was because the awards in the second half were deemed more popular with the average viewer? Indeed, Fourth Wall Magazine tweeted that 'One of the reasons the Oliviers was taken off TV was because they were fed up with broadcasters dictating which were the important awards.'

It seems lessons have not been learned. I only knew from my twitter feed that La Boheme had won the gong for 'Best New Opera Production', and (do correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think I saw any coverage other than brief mentions in the radio sections about any technical or backstage awards. At one point The Oliviers themselves tweeted about the winner of 'Best Costume Design' giving a fantastic speech and I found myself frustratedly exclaiming 'Really? I wouldn't know!' Theatre is such a collaborative process and, coming from an actor, far too much emphasis is placed on those who are visible to the audience in comparison.

I want to see and be exposed to the leading professionals in the industry I hope to work with in the future, and not just the other directors/actors.

Perhaps I have begun touching upon a problem with the industry at large and have blamed the BBC for just following the demands placed on them by 'other parties', whoever they may be. It is a little comforting, then, to know there are many out there, on Twitter at least, who mirror my feelings that there's just something not quite right.

On a more positive note, it was good to see the awards getting coverage at all, if only via the red button. And I did enjoy what hosting I saw from Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball, the performances from Into the Woods, Phantom, Love Never Dies, and Sweet Charity were very good, although some of the entertainment could have done with being a bit more relevant (Will they have had Barry Manilow at the Tonys? And what was with the street dance troupe busting some moves during a delicate and moving orchestration of 'Somewhere' from West Side Story?) Hopefully this is a sign of improvement. Indeed, in a country with such a rich theatre tradition, we should be celebrating those at the top of their game just as much as those in cinema in theirs. Many congratulations to all of the winners.