Village Squire, 1977-11, Page 43PRESS
Doug Bale, theatre critic of the London Free Press, is a controversial figure in Western
The editor of the letters to the editor
page in the London Free Press knows there
is one time he'll have no shortage of
material for his section of the paper: about
a day or two after the opening of a new
theatrical show in the London area.
Over the past half-dozen years, probably
no writer on the staff of the paper has been
so responsible for bringing letters flooding
in as Doug Bale, one of the paper's two
theatre critics.
Meeting Bale for the first time is
something of a shock. Is this the man with
the poisoned pen who can take a show
apart with a few well-turned phrases? Is
this the man who has enraged actors,
directors, producers and just plain theatre
fans across southern Ontario? It can't be. It
must be an imposter, this mild-mannered,
Kent Clark -type with the glasses, lean face
and bush of greying hair.
No. this is the real Doug Bale in the flesh
even if he's not half the devil some people
would have you believe he is. What's more
than this man accused of having a
tremendous ego turns out to being
thoughtful and quietly self -depreciating in
conversation. Far from being the final
authority on a play, he says, his reviews
are just one man's opinion and those who
get upset by them are taking his reviews
too seriously.
As the main theatre critic for the largest
circulation newspaper in Western Ontario,
he had consented to discuss over lunch the
role of the critic in theatre.
Please!
Doug Bale's
theatre reviews
are not sermons
from the mount
Ontario Theatre.
He is not without experience as a crit:
Now in his seventh year as the Free Pre
theatre critic he has reviewed about 2
plays in that time. Like many newspap
critics outside major urban centres, I ,
came to the job almost by accident. TY c
paper's previous theatre critic, Heli r
Wallace, moved away a month before tI t
opening of the 1971 Stratford Festiv i'
season. Desperately the paper looker
around for a replacement it could get in
hurry. Only two people on staff had ar.}
theatre background and the other was ti c
night editor who wasn't about to take : r
the added work of critic so Bale w. s
selected on a trial basis.
Even then his theatre background wu:
not extensive. He had acted in sora
amateur productions and had read arc
gone to see many plays. When growing u
he said, it had come to him as something �.
a revelation that you could go to a librar i
to the theatre section and actually fir r
copies of plays written down. It opened r••
a new world for him especially when 1 -
found
found the original stage play versions
shows that went on to become hit movies
His amateur background still clings
him. Someday if he ever quits his job. nr
says, he'd like to go somewhere where n..
one knows him as a theatre critic and direc
amateur plays. As an actor in plays, t,
says, he could always see what others i
stage were doing wrong or how they couIt:
do it better. Even then he was thinking
more along 'the lines of a director...or :,
"ril lc.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/NOVEMBER 1977, 41.