| Biography: |
James Waites bluffed his way into reviewing plays for the influential National Times, 25 years ago at the age of 27. He helped create the short-lived New Theatre Australia and taught theatre history at UNSW and U Western Sydney - a couple of graduates later becoming famous. He is best known for his years as chief drama critic at the Sydney Morning Herald; and, since his departure after dumping on Les Mis, writing on theatre for The Bulletin.
James compares theatre reviewing to a merging of the gift for pastoral care with dentistry; his favourite exponent being Michael Feingold of New York's Village Voice. James once served John Cleese in a London restaurant. Gobsmacked by the chance to play Manuel, sadly he overplayed the part in a spectacular display of crashing crockery. Humbled by the challenge of the actors' craft, he returned immediately to reviewing. These days, James is an interviewer of 'eminent persons' for the National Library's Oral History Department, with occasional contribitions to www.australianstage.com.au |
