Criticism

Criticism requires an educated perspective but the impulse to grade a performance as good or bad is innately engrained in us all. 

Here are a few key points when we consider how to critique a performance effectively.

• You judge or critique performances every day. 
• You have certain opinions about the quality or success of a piece. We are all critics. 
• You may give it a rave (Positive praise) review or a pan (Negative praise) review. 

First, we must decide if the production deserves a positive review or a negative review. Here are some guidelines that will help determine the piece's validity.

• If the production keeps the audience involved and makes us believe a heightened sense of reality, then it has succeeded.

• The piece has failed if it is boring.

Lyrics

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul


Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land


Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free


They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now


Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue


Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand


Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free


They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now


For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night


You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could've told you Vincent
This world was never meant for
One as beautiful as you


Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame-less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget


Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow


Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free


They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Here’s How to Practice Critical Ethics

• Back up your opinions with valid reasons based on appropriate standards. Your critical opinion is only worthwhile if you can soundly substantiate it.
• Be objective and fair. Recognize your own biases and tastes and make allowances for them. Keep an open mind.
• Evaluate the whole production. 

• Be sincere. Believe in what you say. The opinion must be your own. Although in many cases you will be guided by professional critics, you must learn to develop and stand behind your own beliefs-provided they are grounded in knowledge and understanding.
• Don’t try to be clever at the expense of the artist. Your job is to evaluate, not ridicule.

• Be constructive. Indicate good points along with those that need improvement. No matter what your criticism is, be diplomatic. Don’t be arrogant. As a critic, you need humility, understanding, and kindness.
• Don't be arrogant. As a critic, you need humility, understanding and kindness.
• Don’t be overly negative.
• Don't sweat the small stuff. Always approach a performance with an idea that you’ll enjoy it. If you constantly look for something to go wrong, you won’t be able to give it a good review. You will dwell on the minor-fluffed lines or poorly executed light cues-and miss the possible wonders of the production.
  
  

German Philosopher Johann Goethe (1749-1832)

Goethes’s Principles of Criticism


Critics in many fields tend to agree that the principles of Goethe, philosopher, critic and playwright, provide a sound basis for criticism. 

Geothe’s critical methodology always used three questions:

1.  What was the artist (author, actor, director, designer) trying to do?

2. How well did the artist accomplish it?  

3. Was it worth doing?

1.  What was the artist (author, actor, director, designer) trying to do? 
Did the author mean to write a tragedy? A fantasy? A farce? What was the author trying to tell us? What world was the director trying to illuminate? Was the actor showing off his or her own personality or attempting to embody a character? What was the aim of the design? 


2. How well did the artist accomplish it?  
Was the artist successful? Does the author’s tragedy/fantasy/farce contain the necessary elements of that genre? Were the actor’s technique and the director’s methods effective? 


3. Was it worth doing? 
Here you must form your own opinion as to whether or not the time and effort were worthwhile for both artists and audience. Even if the artist succeeds in achieving his or her aim, the efforts may not be of value to everyone. After considering the entire production, you must decide its worth.

These three questions provide a valuable foundation for criticism because they allow you to judge the work of an artist only after you have considered the purpose, use of technique, and intrinsic value of the individual efforts.