The Clyde Fitch Report: Last week, the world of cultural journalism saw something very rare: a truly, relentlessly negative review that was more about being a serious review than about the self-satisfied rhetorical brilliance of a reviewer showing off.
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This is some that very hard to do, and a lot of people get it very wrong. However, it is also something that can be very easy. Think about it, when you see a really bad show how easy it is to think of all of the things that you did not like. Now take all of those things and formulate it into a list, and turn that list into a few sentences. Now you probably have some ideas on how the production can solve these problems. Do the same thing you did with your list of problems. There you go; you have two paragraphs right there! By stating what you believe did not work, and by offering your thoughts on how to fix them your writing becomes a critique. People in general, I have found, prefer to receive a critique of there work rather than a list of all the things they could have done better.
It's very easy to see a show and after the bows, immediately turn to your fellow theater-goer and list off everything that was wrong with the production. It's easy to blindly hate something without getting to the root of the issue. Writing about why certain elements or sections didn't work is hard work. There's a lot more to a terrible show than "the costume was the wrong color". I'll be the first one to say that scathing reviews are fun to read. Call it schadenfreude. But this article gets at the actual language used in writing about terrible theater. For instance, the quip about Wicked was equal parts witty and mean. However, you have to balance the comments with an actual analysis of the show. It's not enough to say the show sucked. What I really appreciated was the line where they said something along the lines of "sometimes it's not the production, it's the script". Sometimes, there's not much you can do with a subpar script, and it's time theater critics realize that.
I know from experience that going to see shows nowadays- since I have a more clear perspective about what is to happen- is like searching for things to be better. Especially on the technical side of things. If a light cue is late, I’ll know and if a song plays too early or late, Ill know. It’s just something that you are able to pick up over time. I am able to now see what can be fixed or what looks amazing. We are such critiques, but this article helped me become more constructive in my criticism rather than destructive. After all, you want to help it to become the absolute best that it can be. I’ll relate it to my own work, if I had a project that made sense to me and nobody else, I would like to know that it didn’t make sense to them so I can help to make understandable and enjoyable for everyone.
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