Spotted: Miranda Sawyer

When: last night
Where: Ritzy, Brixton

Last night when I went to see An Education with CT and CB, Miranda Sawyer, ace journo and all-round brilliant person was seeing the same film.

I refrained from running up to her and shouting "I think you're fab" in her face, instead, pointed her out to the others. Short-sighted CB said she wasn't sure she knew what she looked like, altho she recognised the name. Some people just don't know their Smash Hits / Select / Time Out / Mixmag history. Cuh.

Miranda was on the Culture Show tonight, interviewing a frankly terrifying-seeming author from the States. I thought she did it all brilliantly as usual. It's all the more satisfying that she seems to live within walking distance of the Ritzy in Brixton, cos she and her blokey set off past my bus stop on their way home. Hurrah for this pocket of South London.

An Education was good, but not amazing, I guess. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was a great snapshot of that moment, in that year (1962), definitely the 60s, but a pre-Beatles 60s. Dominic and Ros Pike were cool as the two mates of the slightly creepy David, and I think newbie Carey Mulligan was really good.

But there were a few things that jarred for me. I wasn't sure about the timeliness of cigarettes with filters (actually, a little research shows they are correct), Jenny's suddenly pierced ears, the flatness of Jenny's schoolmates - were none of them clever or interesting (I was horrified that bloody Ellie Kendrick might be in it a whole lot more), her caricature father played by Alfred Molina, and the English department of Oxford (?!) offering her a place...

And the final song? Man, as far as I'm aware, there were some pretty cool tunes recorded in the 60s, right? Some of them were even by women. And some of them were about being hurt by sleazy men. So why on earth, after all that period accuracy of cars, dresses, hats, sunglasses, tea-sets and the rest, did we have to listen to Duffy at the end? Please.

But it wasn't bad, and it was certainly nice going to the cinema again after all this time. (The torturous Disney's A Christmas Carol 3D effort really doesn't count.)

Ellie Kendrick, Toby Young, Judi Dench: Hell Hath No Fury Like Actresses, Critics and Commentators Scorned...

Well, a commenter kicked off about my slightly provocative review of Romeo & Juliet on londonist earlier in the week...

Fair enough, I think. I was quite cheeky about Ellie Kendrick, and appreciate someone commenting on my writing, whether for positive or negative. In some cases, negative feels more meaningful.

During the same couple of days I was interested to read that the lovely Judy Dench has also made her feelings known about Charles Spencer's comments about her performance in Madame De Sade:

"I've always rather admired you but now realise you're an absolute shit," she wrote.

The ever-readable Toby Young has made this brilliant addition to the Guardian's theatre blog on the subject:

The golden rule in theatreland is that you should never respond to your critics, no matter how uncharitable you think they've been. Whether you're a playwright or an actor, the correct response when asked to comment on an unfavourable notice is to deny all knowledge of it... They know that the worst punishment for a critic is to be ignored.

Most critics regard these sorts of letters as the equivalent of receiving a Tony award. Had I ever received a missive like that from a theatrical dame, I certainly would have milked it for all it was worth, just as Spencer has done...

...the best way to make a critic feel guilty about a negative review is to be gracious about it.

Thanks Toby. This certainly made me smile.

My Romeo and a Rubbish Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe

People who know me well know that I'm fairly obsessive when it comes to Shakespeare, Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Globe, and, in particular, Shakespeare plays at Shakespeare's Globe.

I'm happy to pay a fiver and stand; I've been there in my role as an English teacher, with a fab student; I've sat in v good seats with my bro, sis and sis-in-law; I've even been down on Shakespeare's birth-deathday and got into the free fun such a date brings.

And happily I've been freely cushioned and charmed by the press people on a couple of visits.

As a result, I've been lucky enough to see and review the following to date:

• Othello (May 07)
• The Merchant of Venice (July 07)
• The Frontline (July 08)
• and now, Romeo & Juliet (May 09)

But last night was the first time JC had been. It was nice to go with a fresh pair of eyes, but I'm sorry the play he saw wasn't quite up to scratch. I'd told him how good I thought Ellie Kendrick was going to be: sadly, she totally failed to live up to my enthusiastic promises.

But it was still a lovely night out. CB and her mate J were there, as was my new friend Nick Curtis (!), and a few other critics I recognise (like KB). And I think (hope!) JC enjoyed it too.

I simply love the place.

I'll stick my neck out and say I'm pretty sure Shakespeare's Globe is my favourite place in the whole of London.

Sure, it's uncomfortable, awkward, hard to hear, and, well, quite hard work. But that's what Shakespeare's like too, so it feels like a totally fitting venue to me.

I love how you can watch other people watching the play. How you have to work hard to get the most out of it. How you do have to strain to hear. How people do this weird endurance thing with the hard benches and the standing, and still come back.

And I'm looking forward to seeing more things there in the future.