I am having a couple plays coming up--plays that will be reviewed. I have had few reviews of my plays thus far and I'm both looking forward to being reviewed and also dreading it.
Some writers and actors have told me they don't read their reviews. I don't know if I can control my curiousity enough to do that but in the end I think it might be better for my sanity.
At the same time, I know there are review writers out there trying to help playwrights not make the same mistakes over and over. So maybe it would be good to read some reviews.
But not if they make me freeze up and dread writing.
I don't know. Do you read your reviews?
5 comments:
Yes. I seriously cannot help it. First I skim to get the gist: good, bad, condescending, horrendous, rave???? Then I put it away until the run is fully underway, and I read it again more carefully. Then I save a copy and months down the road I scour it for press quotes for my website.
I know it's not healthy. But it seriously is one of the least unhealthy behaviors I'll admit to, so that's something...
Someday I will stop.
Someday I will stop.
Maybe this is something you should do in order to determine if its important enough to be part of your overall process?
maybe. I'm afraid it will fuck up my whole process.
I never read other people's reviews, but I review my own work and I am viscious, but then I never read those reviews either, because that Floyd guy is a jerk and bad for my writing process! Ha!
I read my reviews religiously. They do not particularly affect my process. This may be because I consider the purpose of reviews, to be "texts to be cherry-picked for anything which sounds remotely positive so you can put it in promotional materials."
Therefore, a review such as:
"Ry Herman's latest catastrophic disaster of an asinine, sophomoric play, at least the parts of it I remained awake for, brought new meaning to the word 'contemptible' and caused several less hardy souls to flee the theater; I hope I am never forced to see this work again, and if I do for some reason see it very many more times I will seriously consider committing suicide during the act break."
is from my perspective best read as:
"Ry Herman's latest ... play ... brought new meaning to ... theater; I hope I ... see this work ... many more times[.]"
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