Mark Shenton
Mark Shenton | |
---|---|
Born | Mark Charles Warren Shenton 12 September 1962 Johannesburg, South Africa |
Occupation | Critic |
Nationality | British |
Genre | theatre criticism |
Website | |
shentonstage |
Mark Shenton (born 12 September 1962 in
Education
Up to the age of 16, he was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg. He took O and A levels at Albany College, London then in 1982 took up studies at
Career
His first job in London came in 1986 at Dewynters plc where he edited and co-ordinated the publication of theatre programmes and souvenir brochures for
Shenton is the London correspondent for Playbill is associate editor of Theatrevoice.com[1] and has written theatre blogs for The Guardian online, Broadway Direct, as well as contributing monthly features to West End theatre programmes.
Until December 2020 he was President of The Critics' Circle,[2] having previously chaired the Circle's Drama section.[3] In 2015, he was appointed joint lead theatre critic, with Natasha Tripney, of The Stage, a role which he left in 2018, when he became the paper's New York critic.[4]
He also wrote a three-times weekly blog and reviews for LondonTheatre.co.uk until late 2020.[5]
Departure from the Sunday Express
On 5 December 2013, Shenton announced via a column in
In a statement read out to an employment tribunal in August 2014, Shenton said his copy was sometimes dictated or changed without his consent, and fulfilling regular requests for free tickets potentially put at risk his professional relationship with theatre production's PRs. The Sunday Express disputed Shenton's account.[8] In mid-October 2014, Shenton lost his claim for unfair dismissal, as he was a freelance paid a retainer, and thus "was not an employee within the meaning of the Employment Rights Act" meaning the tribunal had "no jurisdiction to hear the claim for unfair dismissal". The tribunal also ruled that Express Newspapers had not discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation and that Northern & Shell's "interests in the pornography industry" were irrelevant to the case.[9][10] However, the company had "conducted an unfair process in terminating that contract, in that they withheld information from [Shenton] and they also gave inconsistent accounts of the reason for termination".[11]
Publications
Publications include:
- Harden's Theatregoers Handbook, co-authored with Roger Foss, Harden's Ltd (2004) ISBN 978-1-873721-65-0
References
- ^ Theatrevoice home page Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Stepping aside as President of the Critics' Circle". Shenton Stage. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Critics' Circle website
- ^ "Tim Bano becomes joint lead critic at The Stage". Archived from the original on 2 March 2018.
- ^ "January 2: a New Year's resolution, the botched return of theatre between lockdowns and what's happening in Australia | Shenton Stage".
- ^ a b c Shenton, Mark (5 December 2013). "Another critical scalp (and this time it's mine!)". The Stage. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Greenslade, Roy (5 December 2013). "Sunday Express theatre critic fired over gay website pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Turvill, William (22 September 2014). "Sacked Sunday Express critic tells of being told to change star ratings and get free theatre tickets for Desmond". Press Gazette. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (17 October 2014). "Theatre critic Mark Shenton loses sex discrimination case against Desmond's Express". The Independent. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Quinn, Michael (20 October 2014). "Theatre critic Mark Shenton loses unfair dismissal case". The Stage. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Turvill, William (20 October 2014). "Critic loses Sunday Express employment tribunal despite 'unfair process' after judge finds he was freelance". Press Gazette. Retrieved 8 June 2017.