I hate the critic. This was called the round table organized by the Association of Teatro de Euskal Herria (EHAZE) within the framework of the Experimentxak Day. There were, in the spotlight of that hatred and in front of the microphone, the only journalists who today make theatrical critique in Basque: Agus Pérez (Berria) and Jaime Valverde (Gara). Yes, moderator Karlos of the elm clarified that “love is the starting point of all hatreds.”

Agus Pérez started writing theatre reviews with the creation of the Euskaldunon Egunkaria journal, and for a long time he has been the only Basque critic he has led. He clarified that the critic was more responsible for the role of assistant than that of judge. Jaime Valverde, for his part, is a young novice, as he has only published eight theatre reviews. In his words, criticism is fundamental, “the harm that makes good.”

The rapporteurs and the moderator recognized that the Basque theatre system is small and that almost everyone knows each other. For this reason, Pérez remembers the company when it makes criticisms, especially when it is Euskaldun. “Those who have prepared the work deserve an external reading.” On the other hand, from the reader’s point of view, it aims to write a “readable” text. Valverde’s comments, on the other hand, have a pedagogical function. “I try to tell the reader whether or not he will like the work.”

They both have the habit of writing immediately after watching the theater, the same day or the next morning. However, Valverde has pointed out that the more time goes by, the more you enter the work. “The criticisms I wrote later were the ones that gave me the best sensations.”

Pérez acknowledged that he has to do a great job of documentation: “Before I was looking for the information I was looking for in my supposed wisdom, now the Internet has made that work much easier.” He also likes to talk to experts to keep his opinion in mind. Valverde the sister helps to make texts easier, as it comes from the academic world, which tends to write long and complicated sentences.

The explanations of the speakers helped to understand the critic’s “solitary” work to the actors and actors who accommodated themselves in the seats, but not just the explanations of the speakers. In fact, Karlos Del Olmo proposed a curious exercise: after seeing the dramatized reading, the viewer has to make a criticism of it; that is, putting the spectators on the skin of the critic.

The text chosen was that of Xabier López Askasibar, The Cigars Not Turned On, a small theater that moves to the present day the classical myth of Edipo and Yocasta. The actresses Maite Arrese and Mikel Martínez embodied the work with their voice, combining in one text two parallel monologues in the original.

At the end of the reading, the room was immersed in silence, attracted by the moderators, until the instinct of the critics. Most applauded the original text and observed the speeding in reading, and the actors were able to defend their proposal. Finally, actor Ramon Agirre, immersed in these debates, launched the strongest phrase about the critic's work: “The critic, even when he has to give wood, it should be noted that he loves the theater.”