The Book of Reviewing!

 

The Book of Reviewing

 

For Intermission

 

 

What is a review?

A review is an opinion-based piece about a performance (or presentation, book, concert, etc). A review is written to provide information about the merits of the performance to those who have not yet seen the performance.

A review often contains partial summaries, teasers, and pointers about which parts were excellent and which were mediocre. It doesn’t spoil the ending, and avoids discussing parts of the show that would give away the surprise.

 

A response, by contrast, is written for people who have already seen the show. It is meant to encourage discussion, and may contain spoilers as the readers of the response will have already seen the show.

 

 

Megan Mooneys DOs and DON’Ts of Review Writing

MEGAN MOONEY IS VERY AMAZING. Thank you so much, Mooney on Theatre!

1)    DO be personal.

a.     A show can never be good or bad, but people can have very different opinions about it.

b.     Therefore, talk about why you liked it (or didn’t), and how this or that scene made you feel.

c.     Tell us about you experiences with similar plays in the past. Tell us why the topic at hand means something to you. Tell us why you wanted to see the play in the first place (or didn’t want to).

d.     These all help explain your perspective, which helps the reader understand why you did or did not like aspects of the play. It helps the reader know if they would have the same opinion as you, and a similar reaction to the show.

e.     This is the most important DO! It makes your review interesting!

2)    DON’T be vague. DO be specific.

a.     If you liked something, tell us exactly what it was!

b.     If you hated something, tell us exactly what did not work for you.

c.     The more specific you can be (even if that means you have a really long list of things to talk about) the more people can relate to your review, or response.

d.     This won’t always be easy. And specifics can be hard to remember. But this is how you analyze, and how you will get better at discussing theatre and other things.

e.     In addition, being specific is also great for the people who saw the show. If they read your review, they’ll want to know what it was that “sucked”! It helps them become better performers and artists if you are specific.

3)    DON’T give away the surprises.

a.     This can be really hard if you liked a play or it blew your mind.

b.     But don’t give it away.

c.     If it’s really, really too hard not to mention the end – say that you are having trouble! Say that it’s really hard not to break the surprise! It’s probably a good reason to see the show.

4)    DON’T worry about making it for every person on the planet. DON’T even worry about making it for every person in Toronto.

a.     Your review can’t be a universal explanation of everything.

b.     It may not help every single person who reads it.

c.     But if you are personal, and if you include details, most people will find it more helpful than if you talked about how the meaning of life is embodied in this play.

d.     By NOT generalizing, you actually make it easier for people to understand, and to make decisions.

 

 

 

Questions to consider

Aka. Prompts for your memory, and ideas to think about.

 

1)    What did you leave the theatre thinking about?

2)    Do you remember most of all from the show, now? How much is that related to what you think the “message” or “theme” of the show was? Why do you remember this/these things?

3)    What did you connect with, or identify with – or with whom? On the other hand, did anything repel you, gross you out, make you angry, etc? What and why?

4)    Were you ever bored? Did you ever look at your watch, or start looking at the audience? What were you thinking at the time? What was happening on stage – or what scene were they in, what was happening plot-wise? Was this a bad boredom, did it detract from the show? Why?

5)    Think about the set, the costumes, the light changes (or the lack thereof!). Can you see choices about the design that helped the play, or hindered it?

a.     For example, were there symbolic set pieces, or props? Were the costumes realistic, or over-the-top, or symbolic themselves?

b.     Did you feel that all the choices fit together, the way a well composed painting or photograph does? Did it help you draw connections about the story or the issues in the play?

6)    Did you feel that the play was “finished”, when it was over? Did you have a mental click where everything fit into place? Did you feel that things were unfinished?

a.     Did you have lingering questions that you wish were talked about or answered? For example, something in the plot that was forgotten about, or a character that never came back and was unexplained. Or themes and ideas that they raised, and seemed to say “this is really important!” but then make no comment on the issue other than it’s “important”, etc.

b.     How would you like the play to continue? Do you think it was great the way it ended? (for dramatic reasons, for characters, for leaving a good question in the air, etc)

7)    If you’re still reading, feel free to add your own questions! These are just starters and prompts to help you remember everything!

 

 

What to do if you’re stuck

1)    Start writing something down.

a.     Start writing down what happened in the play. Make a summary.

b.     Describe the characters.

c.     Now you can start thinking about the writing style, how the words sounded, how the characters had details about their lives, how the plot worked, etc.

2)    Write for as much as you like. You can edit afterwards.

a.     But if you need a specification, write one and a half – two double spaced pages.

b.     For comics, probably about the same length. For drawings, one or two pages. You get the idea. The most important thing is connections and creativity.

3)    Draw a map of connections.

a.     Each character can be a node – connect them and write how each connection works (how are they related, what happened, etc).

b.     Each issue can be a node.

c.     Each piece of the set can be a node.

d.     Costumes can be a node.

e.     Connect these nodes to each other and think about the ways in which they interact.

4)    Don’t think about making it perfect. Don’t think about the whole thing. Just start writing about your favourite or least favourite part – the thing that got you the most fired up.

5)    Are you trying to make EVERYONE like it? Stop that. Write so that the folks in Intermission can learn something about the show and what you thought about it. Write for your best friend who hasn’t seen it yet.