Of reviews...

In the theatre review class which I went to, the workshop instructor said that a review seeks to recreate the subjective experience which you had in your interaction with the theatrical work. He also mentioned that there is no bad review, just not enough reviews. Upon being asked the question of whether there is such a thing as an unprofessional review, he mentioned that it could be unprofessional on the terms that the reviewer did not engage with the theatrical piece and did not consider two vital things about the work. These two vital things are:
1) Practitioner’s vision – what is the practitioner trying to do through the theatrical piece?
2) Reviewer’s response – what is the reviewer’s personal response to the work?
Many a times, people just dismiss off a piece of work if it’s not mainstream, or when it did not meet up to their own expectations, without considering the practitioner’s vision.
He also mentioned that quite a lot of pieces of work tend to be descriptive. As such, the review missed out on sharing the subjective experience of the reviewer, making it a sypnosis of the theatrical work, rather than a proper review.
Hahaa.
Personally, I find it hard to write a proper review. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to think of ways to replicate the experience you have while viewing the theatrical piece. In addition, verbatim is probably needed at times to help to replicate that experience… and unless you both evaluate and appreciate the work at the same time, it is probably hard to remember the verbatim, or to recall specific elements that brought about the reaction you have as an audience.
UNLESS you have a video of the theatrical piece. Hahaha.
At any rate, I shall do my best to bring about reviews from another form of media – the movies. Of this, I have no experience whatsoever, and frankly speaking, no perseverance to rack my brains to write a proper review of the show. I shall just type out what comes to mind, and in the least, I will do a recommendation or rejection of the movie.
Haha.