Surviving the Critics

Last week, Benedict Cumberbatch got some pretty loathsome reviews. It can happen to us all. He will survive the bad reviews, and so will you. You are not your performance, they are not talking about you, they may even use your name, but your performance and you as a person are two separate things.

They are not speaking of you, they do not know you. But it can be a heart breaking.

My first bad review came at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1998. We were reviewed on the first day by several newspapers and they all hated it equally. Granted, our uni graduation show was probably bloated, pretentious and not particularly good, but we had put our heart and soul into it – not to mention a loan from my Mum to pay for it.

I will never quite forgive Gerald Berkowitz for his unkind words in summer 1998. But that’s just his job, and I don’t know him personally, but I remember walking for 5 hours in the rain one night to get over it.

I don’t know how we carried on. It was a miserable summer of getting drunk and trying to forget those words.

On the other hand, I’ve had great reviews too.  But as David Mamet says:

“The good reviews are never good enough, and the bad review are devastating.”

Reviews are great for marketing your show. They are an opinion of professional theatre journalists about your work, but you are not your work, and they are not the end of the matter.  Getting a 5 star review will probably sell out your show. But it may also inflate your ego too.

Critics also get things wrong. I remember the Herald review of our play STITCHING a few years ago criticised me for voice overs, which Neilson had written into the script. In the same production, he criticised me as the director for using a soundtrack – Neilson again.

It is also possible to learn from them a little too. They’ve probably seen a lot more work than you have.

Of course, you can decide not to read them. Many actors don’t. I think that’s healthy. In a long run, a bad review can really damage you self-esteem. But decide up front, and make sure others respect that decision.

But you cannot take them personally, because if you do, you will not survive this industry.

When you work out how to do that. Tell me how.