Armchair Critics

Last night we went to the Seagull Theatre and watched ‘Bobby & Amy’ – an award-winning comedy in which two actors play 21 different characters.

‘Set amongst the devastation that hit farming communities in the late nineties, Bobby & Amy is a coming-of-age story exploring friendship, heartache and what happens when our way of life is threatened by those who don’t understand it.’

It was good to be an audience. We laughed. We were challenged. We appreciated excellent theatre.

I love Statler and Waldorf and Cecil from the muppets….

Statler: Wake up you old fool. You slept through the show.

Waldorf: Who’s a fool? You watched it!

I sometimes think I’m listening to Statler and Waldorf when I go to our ‘Men’s Shed’. Elderly gents… clear opinions on politics, religion, marriage, war, immigration, young people… prejudiced, chauvinistic, extreme, completely bonkers… passionate and unflinching… laughing at self and others… armchair critics at their best.

Sports fans are wonderful armchair critics. Match-of-the-day football pundits express their views… which players should have been picked, how they should have played, what they did well, more often what they did wrong… We join in the debate. We’re experts!

At Norwich City we await the appointment of our new manager with anticipation. As soon as he’s appointed he’ll be the focus of the armchair critic…

…Musing on the death-of-Jesus narrative…

Armchair critics have made sure that he’s executed. His friends have either run off or watched the horror drama from a distance. A wonderful story with a tragic ending.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus step forward. Up till now they’ve been ‘secret disciples’. They take Jesus’ bloody, gory mess of a body down off the cross with determination and devotion. They treat the corpse with care and respect. Jesus is buried. It’s risky and costly.

I enjoy being an armchair critic – at the theatre, at the football…My faith often demands that I’m more than a passive audience… It may be risky and costly.