Mark Shenton (born 12 September 1962 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

) is a London-based

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

arts

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and theatre

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or govern ...

. Between April 2002 and December 2013 he was chief Theatre Critic for the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

''. He formerly wrote a daily blog for ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'', where he was an associate editor, as well as reviews and features until March 2019.

Education

Up to the age of 16, he was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg. He took O and A levels at Albany College, London then in 1982 took up studies at Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

where he read law, graduating in 1985 and gaining his MA (Cantab) in 1987.

Career

His first job in London came in 1986 at Dewynters plc where he edited and co-ordinated the publication of theatre programmes and souvenir brochures for

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows. He became editor for Arts and Entertainment at the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

in October 1990, and subsequently managing editor for Arts and Lifestyle, finance data and television listings, before becoming a freelance arts journalist in April 2002, specialising in theatre. Shenton is the London correspondent for ''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's ...

'' is associate editor of Theatrevoice.com and has written theatre blogs for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' online, Broadway Direct, as well as contributing monthly features to West End theatre programmes. Until December 2020 he was President of

The Critics' Circle The Critics' Circle is the national professional body of British critics for dance, drama, film, music, books and visual arts. It was established in 1913 as a successor to the Society of Dramatic Critics, which was formed in 1906 but had become ...

, having previously chaired the Circle's Drama section. In 2015, he was appointed joint lead theatre critic, with Natasha Tripney, of ''The Stage'', a role which he left in 2018, when he became the paper's New York critic. He also wrote a three-times weekly blog and reviews for LondonTheatre.co.uk until late 2020.

Departure from the ''Sunday Express''

On 5 December 2013, Shenton announced via a column in ''

'' that he had been asked to leave the staff of the ''

''. as a result of some naked pictures of himself having been posted on a paywalled gay website without his consent. Suspecting the photographs to have been made publicly available by a former boyfriend, he acknowledged the content of the pictures as being "private, personal (but entirely legal)"; the pictures were taken years earlier in San Francisco. Editor Martin Townsend told him in late November that “serious allegation had been made" against him and, with the HR manager at a subsequent meeting, said the photographs had the potential to bring the ''Express'' into disrepute. Shenton described the decision to let him go as having "a certain irony" because the paper's owner

Richard Desmond Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British publisher, businessman and former pornographer. According to the 2021 ''Sunday Times Rich List'', Desmond was the 107th richest person in the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Nort ...

was a publisher of pornographic magazines during the period when the pictures were taken. In a statement read out to an employment tribunal in August 2014, Shenton said his copy was sometimes dictated or changed without his consent, and fulfilling regular requests for free tickets potentially put at risk his professional relationship with theatre production's PRs. The ''Sunday Express'' disputed Shenton's account. In mid-October 2014, Shenton lost his claim for unfair dismissal, as he was a freelance paid a retainer, and thus "was not an employee within the meaning of the Employment Rights Act" meaning the tribunal had "no jurisdiction to hear the claim for unfair dismissal". The tribunal also ruled that Express Newspapers had not discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation and that Northern & Shell's "interests in the pornography industry" were irrelevant to the case. However, the company had "conducted an unfair process in terminating that contract, in that they withheld information from

henton Henton may refer to: *Henton (surname) *Henton, Oxfordshire in Chinnor civil parish, Oxfordshire, England *Henton in Wookey Wookey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish west of Wells, Somerset, Wells, on the River Axe (Bristo ...

and they also gave inconsistent accounts of the reason for termination".

Publications

Publications include: *''Harden's Theatregoers Handbook'', co-authored with Roger Foss, Harden's Ltd (2004) ,

References

External links

ProfileThe Stage blogTheatrevoiceCritics' Circle websiteHarden's Theatregoers Handbook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shenton, Mark 1962 births Living people British theatre critics Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge People from Johannesburg South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of St John's College (Johannesburg) Presidents of the Critics' Circle