Lily Allen tells theatre critic to “get in the bin” over ‘The Pillowman’ comments

Lily Allen has told a theatre critic to “get in the bin” over their comments about her West End show The Pillowman.

The play, which recently came to the end of its run at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, saw Allen play Katurian, a writer who is questioned by the authorities about a spate of murders that bear similarities to her short stories.

Written by The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman also starred Steve Pemberton and Paul Kaye.

Following a string of mixed reviews for the show, Allen has found herself involved in an online spat with theatre critic Mark Shenton.

It all started when Shenton took exception to a positive review quote from All That Dazzles, which read: “Undoubtedly one of the best plays of the year.”

In a blog post, Shenton branded the review “utterly meaningless” as it came from a “blog that calls just about every show they see as ‘potentially’ or ‘undoubtedly’ one of the best of the year”.

Shenton then took aim at the The Pillowman director Matthew Dunster on X (formerly Twitter), stating that he was “relieved” that he missed the show.

In response, Allen fired back: “This is such a bizarre stance for a so called theatre enthusiast. 60000 people bought tickets to come and see this show and I’d say 90% of them were up on their feet at the curtain.

“It’s insane that a quote on a poster is what stopped you from coming to see something that you profess to care so much about. Honestly, your loss.” She added: “And what’s more it was a positive quote!!”

Shenton then responded: “The problem for me was that the quote came from a source that totally lacked credibility. If that is the best quote the producers could come up with, it didn’t say much for the show (I saw the original NT production so didn’t need to see an inferior version).”

The critic then delivered a personal jibe at Allen, writing: “PS: good luck at drama school.”

As I said, a quote is what stopped you from going to see a play that tens of thousands of people really enjoyed. Your loss. You’re also a fucking idiot for trying to shame or embarrass me with your drama school comment. As if there is anything shameful about wanting to study, to…

— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) September 4, 2023

The ‘Smile’ singer responded by calling Shenton “a fucking idiot” for attempting to shame and embarrass her over her decision to attend drama school.

“As if there is anything shameful about wanting to study, to insinuate there is is beyond hateful,” she said.

On a separate thread, another X user commented that he hadn’t predicted “Mark Shenton / Lily Allen beef” for 2023, to which the critic replied: “Me neither. But if you prick certain “actors”, they clearly bleed. Especially, it seems, when you DON’T see them.”

You could have maybe “pricked” me if you’d come to see the play and said something uncomplimentary about my performance, but your snobbish, outdated, elitist, gatekeeping views about the credibility of a quote got in the way of that. Get in the bin.

— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) September 4, 2023

In response, Allen described Shenton as “snobbish, outdated and elitist”, before telling him to “get in the bin”.

“You could have maybe ‘pricked’ me if you’d come to see the play and said something uncomplimentary about my performance,” she said. “But your snobbish, outdated, elitist, gatekeeping views about the credibility of a quote got in the way of that. Get in the bin.”

Last month, Allen opened up about her relationship with the press, and explained how fame itself became an addiction early on in her career.

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