Lily Allen tells theatre critic to “get in the bin” over ‘The Pillowman’ comments

nme.com:

Lily Allen has told a theatre critic to “get in the bin” over their comments about her West End show The Pillowman.The play, which recently came to the end of its run at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, saw Allen play Katurian, a writer who is questioned by the authorities about a spate of murders that bear similarities to her short stories.Written by The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman also starred Steve Pemberton and Paul Kaye.Following a string of mixed reviews for the show, Allen has found herself involved in an online spat with theatre critic Mark Shenton.It all started when Shenton took exception to a positive review quote from All That Dazzles, which read: “Undoubtedly one of the best plays of the year.”In a blog post, Shenton branded the review “utterly meaningless” as it came from a “blog that calls just about every show they see as ‘potentially’ or ‘undoubtedly’ one of the best of the year”.Shenton then took aim at the The Pillowman director Matthew Dunster on X (formerly Twitter), stating that he was “relieved” that he missed the show.In response, Allen fired back: “This is such a bizarre stance for a so called theatre enthusiast.

60000 people bought tickets to come and see this show and I’d say 90% of them were up on their feet at the curtain.“It’s insane that a quote on a poster is what stopped you from coming to see something that you profess to care so much about.

Honestly, your loss.” She added: “And what’s more it was a positive quote!!”Shenton then responded: “The problem for me was that the quote came from a source that totally lacked credibility.