A guide to reviewing shows

Sunday, 19 April 2009 01:28

Writing a good review is all about communication. When you share your opinions about a show, it's important that you can clearly explain and justify your criticism - be they good or bad comments. The easiest way to approach your review is to break it down into three sections. Start with what the show is about – give your reader enough information to understand the plot summary, but not so much that you're giving away all the twists and turns – and never be tempted to spoil the ending, even if this is a pretty well-known piece.

Next describe how the production company have approached the work. Are they bringing a new interpretation to a classic? Is this period piece in which they are highlighting contemporary parallels? Did you watch completely new writing which attempted to break new theatrical ground? Perhaps it's just a regular stand-up routine. Whatever the scenario, it's useful to understand what they were trying to achieve so in the third section of your review you can draw conclusions as to whether they achieved their goals.

It is in this section that you're going to make some criticisms, so think about all the aspects of the performance and which stood out as either particularly good or bad. Try and be constructive if you can - it is better to explain what you think may have gone wrong rather than just say the show stunk. Equally, if you're dishing out praise, then your reader will appreciate it if you explain why this is better than average.

Does it make sense

Once you've written your review, read it back and make sure it makes sense. There's no hard-and-fast rules about how many words you need to write, but you owe it to your audience to give them enough to understand whether they should buy a ticket or not. That said, US film critic Leonard Maltin famously wrote a review of 'Isn't It Romantic' that consisted of just one word – 'No'. A slightly more witty ultra-short review was probably Kenneth Tynan's review of 'I Am Camera' which read 'Me no Leica'.

Join the team

The core reviewing team for Broadway Baby is made up of actors, directors, producers and other people professionally involved in performing arts. We're always on the lookout for new writers to join the core team – you just need to prove you know what you're writing about and have the ability to communicate well. The best way to do that is start contributing your own reviews to the site now. Even if there's already an 'official' Broadway Baby review, if you've seen the show too, then add your own opinion to the site – and you don't have to agree with the thoughts of our own reviewer either!

Show not listed?

If there's a show you'd like to add a review for, but there's no listing yet on the site, drop an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with details of the show, and we'll get it added so you can share your thoughts with the world.