Critic costs Mirror £170,000 for review of the worst play he'd never seen

 

If, as the late Kenneth Tynan said, "a critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car", then Matthew Wright, former showbiz columnist of the Mirror, is a critic who can't even be bothered to get in the car in the first place.

Wright's unique approach to reviewing yesterday cost the Mirror £170,000 after he described a play he had not seen as the worst he had ever attended.

David Soul, who starred in and produced The Dead Monkey, was yesterday awarded £20,000 in damages and the Mirror was ordered to pay £150,000 in costs at the high court after a three-year legal battle sparked by Wright's devastating review in October 1998.

In it Wright described Soul - who made his name as Hutch in Starsky & Hutch - as a "balding old man" and said the show was "without doubt the worst West End show I have seen".

"Far more entertaining was watching the audience watch David Soul," he wrote. "Stunned American tourists could hardly believe the balding old man with a wobbly beer gut was the handsome guy they remembered from his Hutch days. Muffled sniggering turned to hoots of derisive laughter.

"Last Monday just 45 people bought the £25 tickets... London's Whitehall Theatre was so empty it would have made more sense to use it to shelter the homeless than carry on with the show. But Soul had no intention of pulling the plug and anyone who tried to walk out was begged by ushers to return."

Wright also said attempts to sell the CD of the soundtrack of the play were "pitiful" and that Soul had sunk his lifesavings into the production.

In fact Wright had not been to see the play - there were no performances on Mondays - and sent along a freelance reporter to see the show for him before writing the piece in the first person.

According to solicitors acting for Wright, who now works in television, this was standard practice on the Matthew Wright column.

Graham Atkins, Solicitor for Soul, told Mr Justice Gray that his client was not prepared to let the attack remain unchallenged. Mr Atkins said the attendance for the performance in question was around 130, well over half the capacity of the theatre. Read more----->>>>>>