It’s hard in a culture of slickly produced, highly commercialized movies and television for theatre to be noticed at all. Indeed, it is amazing that it survives as it does. Often, a theatre company will have to produce many ‘popular’ shows to attract large audiences in order to support more cutting edge and contemporary work. Unlike Hollywood filmmakers, people in theatre have to attract people to see their work in one location. This is severely limiting when you consider that many people will not go to see a play that they haven’t heard of before. In spite of this, there are many brave people who devote their entire lives to live theatre.
This in mind, I would like to comment on the nature of theatre reviewing, especially for university theatre, which is a much different beast from the professional stage.
First and most importantly, appreciate the context in which you are writing. It is inappropriate to be overly critical of the work of university students, who are still learning their craft, by comparing them with seasoned professionals. We don’t level such criticism against beginning authors, poets, filmmakers, visual artists, etc. in the university setting, so why hold theatre student designers, actors, and crew to such high professional standards? I do not say this in order to receive favourable reviews, nor do I say it to stifle anyone’s informed and constructive opinions – by all means write what you thought of the show. I simply say it so that you are mindful of the standard to which you hold a university-level production before reviewing it. Keep in mind that the environment that we are trying to foster in a university is one of creativity, exploration and learning. Why stifle that energy with negativity? For reference, you should even try going to see shows produced by other universities in BC in order that you might better understand how UFV Theatre measures up against the work being produced by other departments.
Have a basic knowledge of the theatre program and how it works from a students’ point of view. For example, here at UFV our productions are essentially classes. Students receive grades for their work, the way an English student would on an essay. Find out what the department has done in the past and how the season is structured. Be sure not to find this information out from hearsay on the street or form opinions on the basis of little information but from the department itself and those with factual, informed knowledge.
Read the play that you are going to review before watching it. It is incredibly difficult, as any theatre student will know, to be critical of what you are seeing when you are not in the position of an informed observer. If you cannot read the play, learn the basic plot, the major characters and the themes of the play. This will ensure that you can watch with a more critical eye to the nuances of the production itself.
If you keep these three things in mind when going to review a piece of theatre, especially one at your own university, you will not only get a fuller appreciation of the work but will have more understanding of its context within not only the theatrical world, but the greater world outside.
-Gabriel Kirkley
