How to Write About Theatre

A Manual for Critics, Students and Bloggers

Mark Fisher

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781472520548
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781472520562
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

What do you do if you find yourself weeping in the stalls? How should you react to Jude Law's trousers or David Tennant's hair? Are you prepared to receive toilet paper in the post? What if the show you just damned turns out to be a classic? If you gave it a five-star rave will anyone believe you? Drawing on his long years of experience as a national newspaper critic, Mark Fisher answers such questions with candour, wit and insight. Learning lessons from history's leading critics and taking examples from around the world, he gives practical advice about how to celebrate, analyse and discuss this most ephemeral of art forms - and how to make your writing come alive as you do so. Today, more people than ever are writing about theatre, but whether you're blogging, tweeting or writing an academic essay, your challenges as a critic remain the same: how to capture a performance in words, how to express your opinions and how to keep the reader entertained. This inspirational book shows you the way to do it. Foreword by Chris Jones, Chief theater critic, Chicago Tribune

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Halftitle page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• FOREWORD
• 1 INTRODUCTION
• 2 HOW TO LEARN FROMCRITICS OF THE PAST
• 3 HOW TO TAKE ON DIFFERENT CRITICAL STYLES
• 4 HOW TO WRITE FOR YOUR READERS
• 5 HOW TO DO YOUR RESEARCH
• 6 HOW TO FINDYOUR VOICE
• 7 HOW TO WRITE THE FIRST SENTENCE
• 8 HOW TO STRUCTURE A REVIEW
• 9 HOW TO WRITE IN THE MOMENT
• 10 HOW TO WRITE OPINIONS
• 11 HOW TO GIVE STAR RATINGS
• 12 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT ACTING
• 13 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT PLAYS
• 14 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
• 15 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT THE AUDIENCE
• 16 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT CONTEXT
• 17 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT EMOTIONS
• 18 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR BIAS
• 19 HOW TO WRITE ABOUT CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS
• 20 HOW TO PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER
• INDEX