THEATER IN HOOTERVILLE.

THEATER IN HOOTERVILLE. Terry Teachout had a column in the weekend Wall Street Journal (July 7/8) deploring how newspapers around the country are cutting back on the number of book reviewers and theater reviewers. I am grateful to Teachout because he has fulfilled what I consider the most important function of a critic by calling my attention to several very good plays (for example, plays by Jonathan Leaf and Ayckbourn). Nevertheless, I was struck by the following clause: “…[a newspaper] needs someone who knows whether the Hooterville Repertory Company’s production of ‘Private Lives’ was funny for the right reasons.” It may be that Teachout has his tongue in his cheek, but I think that he is on to something. There are critics who believe that one should laugh for the right reasons–a notion which is itself comic.