Reviewing people you know

Hi Na Later in this thread you state that you intend the above to be true for Pro reviews as well as Am reviews...but I actually don't think you are talking about theatre REVIEWS at all, but theatre CRITIQUE. In a critique, you are writing for the benefit of the practitioners - the cast, director, etc. So yes, by all means, write about what can be improved upon and how you think the practitioners may benefit from heeding your advice. But a REVIEW is not written for the company, it's written for the audience. (In fact, even that's an over-generalisation...it's actually written for a readership) So when writing a review, you are simply informing the readership about what you thought. You HAVE to be subjective...because it's only your opinion. Obviously, the more you can support your opinion with good argument, example, and subjective fact, the better it will be received and believed. But you have no duty to give constructive criticism, unless it is of interest to your readership, and either helps justify your opinions or maintains your right to voice them. Many of the 'reviews' written in this forum are more along the lines of constructive critique, intended for the practioners, and I suspect so was the review mentioned in this topic heading, therefore your comments are helpful. I just wanted to make the distinction that an actual review is a slightly different thing. The readers of a newspaper review generally don't want or need to know how something could be done better. They want to know if the reviewer thought it was any good, and whether it is recommended that they see it for themselves or not. These are value judgements, and can not be made without being subjective. As for bias, this would occur if the reviewer was promoting (or demoting) something or someone more than it deserved. For instance if a reviewer said good things about a show with his friends in it, when it wasn't really justified. This should obviously be avoided...eventually, when found out, a reviewer with bias will simply lose all credibility. Having said this, if you have friends in a show who deserve to be heaped in praise, and you heap praise on them, this isn't bias so long as it is exactly what you would do if they weren't your friends...ie no preferential treatment (or unfair panning of people you don't get on with). So yes, you can review your friends positively and not be biased, if you can put it in a fair perspective. Having this good perspective is usually what makes a good review. (or critique). Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------