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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 14, 2019 22:06:12 GMT
I had a vicious review about my current show this week. It was a badly written hatchet piece.
I would have preferred the publication exercised some editorial control. But they chose not to until the theatre complained.
After that a few tweaks were made.
Then all of a sudden, the reviewer name was removed. And today the whole thing disappeared.
No idea what happened. I said to leave it up. Once it had gone live, it was out there no matter how bad it was for me and my cast.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2019 8:42:52 GMT
Ooh one just came flooding back to me...
As a general rule I don't review amdram productions any more, simply because usually I'm going to see mates in them if I'm going and obviously that doesn't seem very fair to anyone...and again there's a whole murky subtext of 'what standard are we holding community theatre to is it the same as professional, what is professional' etc etc but generally it's because I've got mates in it.
BUT a harder faster rule to that is I will not review kids amdram, that's a line in the sand, because a) I don't think it should be reviewed b) I don't want little Johnny's Mum after me ta.
So, you guessed it I got asked to review a kids amdram production. I politely declined and as it was someone I didn't know just said 'I'm just too busy that week and I can't fit you in' WELL if he didn't get cross and confirm all my worst fears about reviewing Little Johnny and co....
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 22, 2019 9:00:53 GMT
I have reviewed kids amdram - usually pretty high standard (but even the best groups have off years)
Most of the time, this has been fine.
But there was a particularly bad production of The Hot Mikado that I covered and it was an artistic mess. The staging was poor, the musical direction bad (and in the case of rearranging a trio for 2M and 1F into a 9 part female number - just plain wrong), the choreography was weak. They should never have chosen the piece - but the director's daughter was playing Yum Yum - so I guess we know why.
I didn't critique the kids at all - they were doing the best they could with what they had been asked to do and I praised those in the cast with good voices/acting contributions. But I ripped into the adults who were responsible for the failings.
That created a huge storm. The MD and Director demanded my review be taken down - the publication refused. They attacked me on social media and blocked me so I could't respond.
The cast members I have spoken to since said they agreed that the show was a mess and it was the adults who massively over-reacted.
I won't be reviewing them again - it just isn't worth the hassle. Though I would love to see their faces if I did!
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Post by nick on Mar 22, 2019 9:03:32 GMT
I got once got the review "there is nothing like a good panto and this was nothing like a good panto". But, seeing as it was totally truthful, I didn't complain.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2019 9:25:09 GMT
I got once got the review "there is nothing like a good panto and this was nothing like a good panto". But, seeing as it was totally truthful, I didn't complain. hahahaha oh bless! I mean see 'You know it's a bad performance when' thread I have composed the odd stinker of a review in my head while watching something truly terrible. Perhaps we should start a 'reviewers anonymous' where we can say what we REALLY think. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2019 16:33:51 GMT
I don't review so much as casually blog, but I won't cover kids am dram either. Which in many ways is kind of a dumb distinction to have made 'cos the local youth theatre group consistently put on the highest quality productions of all the local groups, but they're learning in a way that the adult groups and also drama school students have already gone through, so it doesn't feel right from that perspective, and also I like going into their shows with a mindset of "I am supporting this group" rather than "I am judging this group".
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Mar 22, 2019 17:37:41 GMT
God why would you?
David Sedaris wrote a hilarious pastiche of an NY Times-style review of a school Nativity play once.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2019 13:39:27 GMT
I don't review so much as casually blog, but I won't cover kids am dram either. Which in many ways is kind of a dumb distinction to have made 'cos the local youth theatre group consistently put on the highest quality productions of all the local groups, but they're learning in a way that the adult groups and also drama school students have already gone through, so it doesn't feel right from that perspective, and also I like going into their shows with a mindset of "I am supporting this group" rather than "I am judging this group". Same, same. HILARIOUSLY the response I got from the person who suggested me to said kids group leader above, was 'But they're hardly amatuer they're basically Sylvia Young standard' great! brilliant! I'm sure they are but I'm not judging a bunch of kids literally at SCHOOL any more than I'm rocking up to the local primary and asking them to make the donkey a bit more realistic in the nativity. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2019 16:37:11 GMT
'But they're hardly amatuer they're basically Sylvia Young standard' That's just begging for a review beginning "This barely amateur performance of ...", or perhaps "There are professional performances, there are amateur performances, and then there's this performance of ...". |
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Post by timothyd on Mar 24, 2019 10:35:19 GMT
I have had only one demand for a takedown regarding this review viewfromthecheapseat.com/2018/02/08/the-boring-room-vaults-festival/As an editor (I didn't write the review) I refused. There was nothing bad in there (though the producer claimed it had insulted the writer's name!?) and it was a fair review of a show that did badly across the board. In desperation, the complainer tried to argue the review anonymous and unfair. It isn't, it wasn't. The Stage gave it 1 star I wonder if he wrote to them complaining. To be fair to the company thats quite a poorly written review. The joke about the name and comparing the show to holding in gas (?!) for example. It also has two entire segments based on an assumption about a name in the programme while that assumption hasnt been verified with the company and could be wrong. As an editor I would have asked the writer to verify that before publishing because it comes across as quite a lazy write-up. The reviewer doesnt write much about the show itself and doesnt give any proper feedback. So I wouldnt exactly call that a fair review. In general if a review only bashes but dont give constructive critism or when a reviewer tries to be witty but fails I dont see much point in publishing it. When you compare a show to holding in gas you failed as a reviewer. |
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