Sorry for the long pause! I have not, however been resting on my laurels. I have been busy trying out reviewing for music and theatre. I have found these satisfying as I get to write creatively as well as critically, which I always adore.
I started by writing a few theatre reviews for some shows that I saw at Edinburgh fringe festival in August. I would highly recommend going to the festival if you are interested in comedy or theatre. This is the largest theatre festival in the world and many companies, young and old come to show off their new wares. Recently it has also become a place where programmers will choose a ‘best of’ the year showcase as well. So if you want to be ahead of the curve on what is hot in theatre or comedy, it is a must. Of course, part of the fun of the festival is the risk- the show could be a complete flop or the next Samuel Beckett/Pina Bausch/Theatre de Complicite (or even be by them!). Likewise, the companies themselves are usually putting themselves at financial risk, renting venues at high prices, hoping to recoup the costs through ticket sales.
So, do go prepared with a full wallet to buy lots of tickets and a full heart to give some generosity to the brave companies trying their best. Although, of course, a flop is always a flop and part of the fun as an audience member is reading reams of reviews and copy to try to make an educated guess.
You can read my Edinburgh reviews on my Articles page in this blog.
Since then I have started to write further theatre reviews for Theatre Bristol writers. This is a small hub of theatre reviewers who cover most productions in Bristol and write reviews in a vast range of styles- if appropriate, writers can get really poetic. I have found that as a performer and someone who has studied theatre extensively, I enjoy writing these reviews and hope they are useful to the performers as well as prospective theatre goers.
Here are links to my reviews so far on the Theatre Bristol Writers site:
http://www.theatrebristolwriters.net/140-Million-Miles-produced-for-A-Play-A-Pie-and-A-Pint-series
http://www.theatrebristolwriters.net/The-Encounter-by-Theatre-de-Complicite
As well as criticising those who tread the boards, I have also been trying my hand as a music critic. This I have found more challenging, as I definitely have little experience in this field, but it has been fun and has the added bonus of introducing me to some great new bands and artists. The site I have been writing for is GIGsoup, a start-up music site that has album and gig reviews as well as news on the music industry. The focus is on popular music, mainly Indie, Rock, Alternative and Electronica, but they are very open to more obscure stuff too. I have so far written three album reviews for them- 500 words in which to describe the sound, contextualise the album in their career, pick some highlights and summarise the overall quality is really tricky, but I love the difficulty of putting a sound into words- you can get really creative and to do that within a word limit is hard.
Here are the links to my reviews on the GIGsoup site:
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/helen-original-faces-album-review/
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/farao-till-forgotten-album-review/
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/get-blessing-review/
So, onwards, I hope to continue to write these reviews and to manage to cover some more news stories too soon.
I started by writing a few theatre reviews for some shows that I saw at Edinburgh fringe festival in August. I would highly recommend going to the festival if you are interested in comedy or theatre. This is the largest theatre festival in the world and many companies, young and old come to show off their new wares. Recently it has also become a place where programmers will choose a ‘best of’ the year showcase as well. So if you want to be ahead of the curve on what is hot in theatre or comedy, it is a must. Of course, part of the fun of the festival is the risk- the show could be a complete flop or the next Samuel Beckett/Pina Bausch/Theatre de Complicite (or even be by them!). Likewise, the companies themselves are usually putting themselves at financial risk, renting venues at high prices, hoping to recoup the costs through ticket sales.
So, do go prepared with a full wallet to buy lots of tickets and a full heart to give some generosity to the brave companies trying their best. Although, of course, a flop is always a flop and part of the fun as an audience member is reading reams of reviews and copy to try to make an educated guess.
You can read my Edinburgh reviews on my Articles page in this blog.
Since then I have started to write further theatre reviews for Theatre Bristol writers. This is a small hub of theatre reviewers who cover most productions in Bristol and write reviews in a vast range of styles- if appropriate, writers can get really poetic. I have found that as a performer and someone who has studied theatre extensively, I enjoy writing these reviews and hope they are useful to the performers as well as prospective theatre goers.
Here are links to my reviews so far on the Theatre Bristol Writers site:
http://www.theatrebristolwriters.net/140-Million-Miles-produced-for-A-Play-A-Pie-and-A-Pint-series
http://www.theatrebristolwriters.net/The-Encounter-by-Theatre-de-Complicite
As well as criticising those who tread the boards, I have also been trying my hand as a music critic. This I have found more challenging, as I definitely have little experience in this field, but it has been fun and has the added bonus of introducing me to some great new bands and artists. The site I have been writing for is GIGsoup, a start-up music site that has album and gig reviews as well as news on the music industry. The focus is on popular music, mainly Indie, Rock, Alternative and Electronica, but they are very open to more obscure stuff too. I have so far written three album reviews for them- 500 words in which to describe the sound, contextualise the album in their career, pick some highlights and summarise the overall quality is really tricky, but I love the difficulty of putting a sound into words- you can get really creative and to do that within a word limit is hard.
Here are the links to my reviews on the GIGsoup site:
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/helen-original-faces-album-review/
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/farao-till-forgotten-album-review/
http://www.gigsoup.co.uk/reviews/album-reviews/get-blessing-review/
So, onwards, I hope to continue to write these reviews and to manage to cover some more news stories too soon.