Back in my high school days, whenever we had to perform a scene or monologue in our theatre arts class the other students were required to verbally review our performance. I always felt super uncomfortable when I was forced into this role because who was I to judge? I didn't have any previous experience in acting. I wasn't well versed in how to give constructive criticism. And neither were the majority of my fellow classmates. So more often than not the "reviews" were generally useless, being filled with either unwarranted platitudes or the most neutral of criticisms.
Fast forward fifteen years or so, and I find myself slightly more educated in the ways of acting and more comfortable doling out criticism when asked. That said, I still find myself somewhat reticent when it comes to giving negative reviews. The old adage comes to mind, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Case (sort of) in point: I recently went and saw a theatrical production that, while it had some truly spectacular moments, was absolutely littered will appallingly bad performances. Having purchased my tickets through Goldstar, I had the opportunity to leave a review, which at best would be mediocre but littered with scorn. And thus my reoccurring moral quandary began anew. Do I leave a mediocre-to-negative review or none at all?
In this case I went ahead and posted it, only to discover that the majority of the other reviews were glowing. Go figure. Maybe I got caught them on an off night or maybe I'm just not the target audience. Who knows? Nonetheless, I think leaving a criticism is often more helpful than leaving no comment at all. Just my two cents.
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