Hello my name is Lyn Gardner and I write about
theatre for The Stage and for an app called
StageDoor. I am here today to give you a few
tips about writing your own reviews. All you
are giving is your own personal response to
what it is that you saw. I think the very
first thing to remember when you’re trying
to write a review is that you are not taking
an exam – there is no right or wrong answer.
And I think that’s a great thing because
it kind of frees you up. It doesn’t matter
what somebody writing in a newspaper, or online,
thinks about the show, it doesn’t matter
even what your best friend thinks about the
show. The only thing that really matters is
your personal response to it and the fact
that you’ve got a precious space in which
to write what you and you alone think.
Because it’s your own personal space to express
your taste and your opinion then I think actually
you have a responsibility to yourself to use
it well – and that means that you need to
be honest. If you don’t really say what
you really thought then in a sense you are
actually betraying yourself and your taste,
so I think that is something that is enormously
important. And I think the other thing is
not to be too influenced by what other people
say, or by received wisdom. Everybody goes
‘Oh Hamlet, that’s a fantastic play!’
but it could be that the particular version,
or production of Hamlet that you’ve just
seen is not a particularly good one and it
doesn’t serve the play well. So don’t
be intimidated by that production history.
Having the space to write a review, of course
come with responsibilities and I think one
of the main responsibilities there is about
backing up your opinion. It’s never enough
to just say ‘I was bored by this’ or enough
to say ‘I just loved it’. You need to
tell us why it is that you hated something,
why it bored you to death or why you thought
is was so wonderful. And I think that one
of the ways to think about a review, which
again perhaps makes it a bit easier to write,
is to think ‘this isn’t the last word,
this is the start of a conversation’ and
to think when you’re writing ‘how if somebody
questioned me, or spoke to me about this review
that I’ve written, how would I defend and
have a conversation about what it is that
I said.’ A really good way in is to ask
yourself some questions. And those might be
questions around - what is it about? What
is the story? Who is in the show? Who were
the characters? Which character is it that
interests you most? Then I think that there
are other aspects that it's really quite important
to look at. Think a bit about the design – what
is the designer trying to say? Are they helping
to tell the story? Or, might they actually
be hindering the telling of the story? You
could look at the lighting – how does that
affect mood? And sound is another really good
thing to think about – how is the sound
being used? Is there underscoring in some
way? Is it changing the mood of the show?
Then I think, other things that it's worth
thinking about are around relevancy – What
does this show connect to? And also I would
say maybe, what might somebody else make of
this? What would my mum think about it? Or,
my Gran? Maybe my little sister, or my brother?
And I think all of those are perhaps ways
in to actually, starting to put together the
building blocks, of what, which will be part
of your final review. Something that you may
find useful is to get something down on paper,
or on screen – your phone is absolutely
perfect to do this – as soon as you come
out of the theatre. This isn't the moment
when you are really sitting down and writing
your review. What you're doing is providing
yourself with the building blocks that will
act as a kind of aide memoire when you actually
write your review. So you could write a stream
of consciousness, just every adjective that
covers the things that the show made you feel
or, to cover moments in the show or maybe
actually, specialise on particular little
moments in the show and what you liked or
didn't like about those. Now this is not the
moment to actually worry about whether or
not, you know, what you are writing is grammatical
or it makes any sense. It's simply about something
that makes sense to you and that when you
write your review, you'll be able to use.
