This isn’t working.
I originally started reviewing theatre in Cardiff as it was an exciting new landscape for me, I knew how important a review was, even from a dumb little idiot boy like me, and so I endeavoured (without being asked 90% of time lmao) to get involved, and put some thoughts and feelers out there onto shows made by people I don’t know, and would never know, to give some honest critical feedback as a creative response.
I have now been lucky enough to work in theatre in Cardiff for a good number of years and got to work with many amazing people and venues, and Cardiff isn’t big. This now means when I am invited to review something I know someone in it very well, or the venue is a past or current employer, or someone who I’m about to work for. I started this blog to be a little faceless guy commenting on work that was very distant from me and now it increasingly feels like I’m giving my friends opinions publicly I should probably just DM them about and that doesn’t feel great. I don’t want it to come across that my opinions on my friends and colleagues shows are so important I feel the need to broadcast them, which is the ultimate conclusion considering what I am writing about!
Going forward I am going to platform people who want to get involved with theatre reviewing who might not get the chance otherwise and focus more on writing silly little think pieces about the theatre industry in Cardiff.
If you fancy reviewing some theatre in a way that is a little different and a bit more of a creative response please email me on cardifftheatrereview@gmail.com and we’ll have a chat!