Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Peacock Tynanwas an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at The Observer, he praised Osborne's Look Back in Anger, and encouraged the emerging wave of British theatrical talent. In 1963, Tynan was appointed as the new National Theatre Company's literary manager...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionCritic
Date of Birth2 April 1927
hero guilt innocence
A villain who shares one's guilt is inevitably more attractive than a hero convinced of one's innocence.
normal operations dichotomy
Dichotomy = operation performed on lesbians to make them normal.
writing creative would-be
Pornography is writing that seeks primarily, even exclusively, to bring about sexual stimulation. This can be done crudely or delicately. In the former case it would be bad literature; in the latter good.
writing play effort
The sheer complexity of writing a play always had dazzled me. In an effort to understand it, I became a critic.
art artist art-is
Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself
drama self knowing
Drama criticism ... is a self-knowing account of the way in which one's consciousness has been modified during an evening at the theatre.
theatre world connections
No theater could sanely flourish until there was an umbilical connection between what was happening on the stage and what was happening in the world.
felt judged
We shall be judged by what we do, not by how we felt while we were doing it.
love drunk sober
What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober.
men play shapes
The greatest films are those which show how society shapes man. The greatest plays are those which show how man shapes society.
hands fists performing
Not content to have the audience in the palm of his hand, he goes one further and clenches his fist.
fear piano good-times
There, standing at the piano, was the original good time who had been had by all.
drama moving past
A novel is a static thing that one moves through; a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one.
food taste bread
Among the classic tastes: bread sauce, Nuits St Georges Les Perdrix 1962, Worcestershire sauce, Toblerone and Bovril.