From this I had an idea. Create a Twitter account that auto-tweets 140 character reviews from theatre bods if they hashtag them. The tweet wouldn’t be a standard RT, but the initial review with an attribution to the author at the end of the tweet. It would act as an aggregation of theatre reviews that anyone could look at for a quick snapshot of what others thought.

After tinkering around for about 15 minutes, I had something working. However, I wanted to make sure that the account only tweeted out reviews from trusted people to stop the channel being abused. I also didn’t want to have to moderate it, as I wanted it to be completely automated.

The result was @140thtr.

The premise is that a list of bloggers (who can be found here) can tweet their review with the hashtag #140thtr, and it will appear in the @140thtr feed within half an hour (cycles on Twitter are a bit problematic).

I was astounded by how easy it was to set up with a mixture of php, Yahoo! pipes and a handy service like TwitterFeed. However, at the moment the names of the reviewers are manually entered. What I aim to do in the future is to tie it into the above list, so as soon as someone is on the list, they are automatically approved. I’ve figured out how to do it, but the results are a little ugly at the moment, so I’ll play around with it and see.

If you want to be added to the 140thtr list, then let me know on Twitter or comment here.

However, there is a rather important caveat… You can’t be particularly picky about the shows you want to see, and you mustn’t expect to only see West End shows. Most of the shows I have seen in the past year haven’t been things I would’ve necessarily sought out on my own. However, it’s broadened my views and opened my eyes to the world of theatre beyond the West End and the majors.

Young and free

One of the first things I investigated when I got here was the A Night Less Ordinary scheme. While the scheme sadly ended in March due to budget cuts, there are a few theatres still offering under 26 schemes. The first one that I joined was Barbican Centre’s freeb program, which is done through a simple online form. This allows you to buy up to 2 tickets for a range of shows. The beauty is that the second person doesn’t need to be under 26 either (just don’t take them to the counter if they look too old). However, tickets do go quickly, so you need to get in there fast. The best bet is to ‘Like’ the freeb page on Facebook, as they’ll let you know when a new lot are on sale.

Another gem from A Night Less Ordinary is the National Theatre’s Entry Passprogram. While you need to fill in an archaic paper form and wait a few weeks for your card, your first show is free and any subsequent shows are £5. Apparently the Donmar have a similar scheme called Donmar Discovery, but it is nigh impossible to get tickets (as it is with most of their shows).

Use the Twitters

If you want free or cheap tickets, make sure you are using Twitter effectively. Follow the major theatres, as well as staff from the theatres (especially marketing and PR). Also, follow accounts like FreeLondon, who tweet when someone is offering free things. If you keep following these people and paying attention, you can pick up some great offers. For example, a theatre-bod I follow on Twitter recently tweeted that he had a bunch of free tickets toUmbrellas of Cherbourg. Hair were offering £20 for press night, due to unsold tickets.

If you already have a network of theatre tweeps who you follow and have some kind of relationship with, set up a list of theatre people (here’s mine as an example), add that list to Tweetdeck and filter the column with a few simple keywords like “‘free ticket’ OR ‘+1′ OR ‘spare ticket’.” You’ll be surprised how many people you know are looking for people to take spare tickets. While I’ve never gone to the effort of setting up a dedicated column in Tweetdeck, I’ve managed to see some fantastic (and dreadful) shows through this method. Through this I’ve also managed to make some fantastic friends out of people I had only spoken to a few times on Twitter, which brings me to my next point…

Network like a whore

Using a tool like Twitter is fantastic to network within the industry. Almost exclusively through Twitter, I have managed to build a great network of theatre people within the UK from scratch, and am lucky enough to now call a lot of those people friends. Events like Twespians (disclosure: I run this with the lovely Laura Tosney) then cement these relationships by bringing them offline over a few drinks.

The benefit of this is two-fold. Not only will you make friends with a new group of people who have similar interests to you, but you’ll also be building a network of industry contacts who, when you feel comfortable, may be able to help you get tickets. This isn’t using people, however, as when you have +1s for yourself, you’ll have a group of friends who you can offer tickets to.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Finally, once you build some credibility with your writing (committing to a time schedule for posting, cross posting to sites like Up The West End and building a network are good starting points), don’t be afraid to ask theatres and PR people for press tickets. It’s easy to find details online (A Google of ‘theatre name press officer’ sometimes does the trick, as does a LinkedIn search), and failing that @ the theatre on Twitter. Be honest about the level you blog at (installing Google Analytics is a good way to monitor how successful you are), talk about the network you have and ask if you can be added to the press list. Contacting agencies like AKA, Premier PR, Arthur Leone and The Corner Shop PR are a good idea as well. You won’t always get a yes, but sometimes you will.

If they do say no, it may not hurt to ask why (in a friendly way). Keep writing and ask again at a later point.

Also, contact existing sites like Fringe Review (contact me if you want to get involved with them and I’ll put you in touch) or Whatsonstage to see if they are looking for reviewers. The advantage of these is that they do a lot of the leg work for you in arranging tickets. However, once again don’t expect a yes straight away. Ask why, keep writing and ask again at a later point.

If you have any comments or want to hurl any abuse at me then feel free to leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter.

I am tendering my official resignation as a blogger-critic. It has taken me two months to decide this, and this post was going to be a long diatribe about the personal reasons behind it (which I did write and can be found here instead), but instead I have decided to write down the reasons why reviewing theatre got the axe.

Hopefully this will make other bloggers sit back and reasess why they are blogging and whether reviewing is the right thing for them to be doing.

Passion

It probably comes as no surprise that you need passion to become a decent blogger, not only for watching theatre but also for writing about theatre. The first alarm for me was when theatre going started to feel like a chore. However, the problem wasn’t with the actual theatre going experience, but the fact that I wasn’t necessarily seeing the things I wanted to see, and was dreading having to write about it the next day. This, exacerbated by the time constraints placed by most theatre reviews websites and publications, meant that I would rush through a by-the-book templated review that had no passion in the writing or opinions. Hopefuly this means that I can return to the lovely prospect of seeing theatre without obligation.

Shortened version: If you aren’t passionate about seeing theatre (and all kinds of theatre) AND about writing for theatre, then don’t bother.

A unique voice

At last count there are approximately 500 million theatre bloggers within London (also, studies show that almost 85% of statistic are made up). Within that there are some talented and dedicated writers. Ought to be Clowns, West End Whingers, A Younger Theatre and Carousel of Fantasies (no matter how much I disagree with the author) come to mind when it comes to well written, well thought out criticism, and in the case of the first two, a nice dose of wit to accompany.

However, out of the 499,999,996 others there is an awful lot of ‘meh’ that exists out there as well. Another realisation was that I was firmly in that portion, as I failed to find a unique voice amongst the crowd.

Shortened version: Find a unique voice that differentiates you from the sea of bloggers. If you don’t, you’ll probably drown.

Respect for my peers

I’m going to make a confession. In the past six months I have probably read three theatre reviews on blogs. If I don’t even read these reviews, then why should I expect anyone to read mine? I descended into a realm of arrogance that made me assume I didn’t need to read the work of my peers, when in reality, it was probably one of the main contributors to my second point about unique voice. In fact, the only reviews I did read were to make me angry enough to write.

It holds true within any industry that you constantly need to look at the work of your peers to make sure you are remaining relevant and engaging, and not just parroting what someone else is saying. In the tech industry, the same mistake was made by Microsoft, who refused to look at the work other companies were doing. As a result, they are now playing a huge game of catch-up to remain relevant within the industry.

Shortened version: Read the work of your peers. It will make you a better writer and keep your work in perspective.

The stagnation of theatre blogging

This is something that I spoke about at Twespians Fringe in March, and if I were to pick one, my main reason for stopping. To me, theatre blogging is becoming slightly stagnant. In my opinion, the main cause of this is that there are too many people reviewing shows and not writing about theatre in a more general way. At the moment, theatre commentary is mainly covered by the majors, like The Stage (Shenton’s View comes to mind) and Guardian bloggers, with a few noteable exceptions in the blogging realm like A Younger Theatre. The more bloggers we have talking about the future of theatre, innovation within theatre and problems within the industry, the quicker we can push the industry forward.

To draw a parallel, in design there are a plethora of writers who write about the industry and where it needs to be going (look at A List Apart for an example). They pull from all sources of inspiration, write about it and then get on stage and talk at conferences, meetups and barcamps. In turn, more people hear/read about this, form their own opinion, and start writing about the industry as well. As a result, the industry has moved forward in leaps and bounds within the last five to ten years.

We could do the same for theatre.

My suggestion? Take a week and pick an issue that you feel passionately about, or something cool you saw in another industry that you can tie back into theatre. Craft a post over a number of days (without seeing any shows) and then post it. Chances are you’ll get more people reading it than your ordinary reviews posts.

Shortened version: Don’t only write reviews. Branch out into commentary, opinion and awesomeness within theatre.

While this means that I will officially stop writing reviews as of today. However, if you still want to invite me to your show, please do. If I see something that I think is worth writing about, I’ll still write about it. However, it won’t include a star-rating, have the word ‘review’ in it and could possibly go off on a million and one tangents. Who knows, it may even include some pretty pictures.

So, in conclusion, I am officially stopping my aspirations to be a blogger-critic. I am now going to officially start my tenure as a theatre blogger. Who blogs about theatre. Not just reviews it.

So, Jesse from Musicalverse has posted a request for theatre bloggers to recommend a theatre blogger, in what he refers to as a meme (not how I would’ve defined it, but anyhoo)… I think it’s a fab idea and a great way to get theatre bloggers talking amongst themselves, as well as enlightening people as to great theatre bloggers.

I have a small list of theatre blogs in my Google Reader, and I consume a whole lot more via Twitter, but I realised that my theatre blog consumption is rather limited. I don’t really seek out new bloggers, so here’s hoping the initiative takes off.

I thought I’d point out two of my favourites…

Epistemysics

Adam from Epistemysics (the hardest blog to remember how to spell) is a funny and original theatre blogger, who has of late been focussing on the writing of an opus. However, his occasional theatre reviews are one to watch out for, as he often reviews not only the production but the program too. His reviews are also sometimes in the form of a dialogue between made up characters. Basically, he is mental, but in a good way.

Even though he’s Australian and only reviews Australian shows, it’s worth reading his stuff. It will enlighten you as to ways theatre reviews could be written…

Example why: Review and Discussion: once and for all we’re gonna tell you who we are so shut up and listen

Twitter: @epistemysics

The Producer’s Perspective

Ken Davenport’s blog is an essential read for anyone interested in the business of theatre. His regular posts provide awesome insight into the way that theatre runs on Broadway, including everything from how to market a show, how to get your script read, what is happening on Broadway (and beyond) and focus on individual shows. It’s fascinating stuff, and there’s something for any professional to learn.

Example why: How to get a producer to read your script

Twitter: @kendavenport

To join in, all you need to do is write a post, or get involved on twitter and facebook by using the #theatrebloggerweek hashtag.

I’ve been issued a challenge.

Last night over dinner I mentioned to my fiancé my excitement over the cast recording of American Idiot coming out in May. Yes, I am that sad. I then went on to explain exactly what American Idiot was, ie a staged version of two of Green Day’s albums.

You can imagine how exciting it is living with me.

For some reason, a wry smile appeared on her face. Knowing my disdain for jukebox musicals, she commented ‘but isn’t that a jukebox musical…’ I protested, making it clear that American Idiot was originally a concept album, and therefore this is just a staged version of a concept album, just like Chess or Jon English’s Paris… Ok, so not all concept albums deserve to be staged, but they sure aren’t jukebox musicals. Thus, a challenge was issued.

Prove that staged concept albums are better than, deserve more appreciation, and are ultimately different to jukebox musicals.

Easy.

First off, the definitions. A jukebox musical, according to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, “is a stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score.” Jukebox musicals have recently become a plague hit on Broadway and the West End, with shows such as Mamma Mia, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Jersey Boys taking other people’s songs, placing them within the show and raking in the money.

Wikipedia also, incorrectly, includes American Idiot on it’s list of jukebox musicals.

Jukebox musicals use previously released popular songs within the context of their plot. That is, they take a song out of it’s original context and give it new meaning within the story of their show. Sure, some could argue that shows such as Buddy, Dusty or Jersey Boys don’t fit within this classification due to the fact that the songs are being performed as part of the artists story. However, I would still argue that they are jukebox musicals, due to the fact that the songs weren’t originally intended to fit as a reference to that artist’s life. They were released as pop songs, devoid of context within a story.

Now we come to American Idiot.

American Idiot was released by Green Day in 2004 as a concept album. The songs follow a narrative based around the story of Jesus of Suburbia.

Green Day’s most recent release is another concept album called ‘21st Century Breakdown.’ The songs also follow a narrative.

American Idiot is also a musical that just premiered on Broadway. American Idiot, the musical, is an amalgamation of the American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown storylines into one story. That is, the songs that are used within the show, with the exception of the curtain call, are all used in their original context, fitting into the storyline that they were written for.

This, to me, is the fundamental difference between a jukebox musical and a stage concept album. Why do I think the latter is better than the former? Mostly due to the fact that the songs were written and intended for a narrative. Writing for musical theatre, or cabaret for that matter, is a very different beast to writing a pop song. Concept albums flirt with the line a little, but generally fall into the musical side of the fence, due to the fact that these songs are written to progress a story. They don’t need to be altered or played with very much because that element already exists within the song. Jukebox musicals, however, usually need to alter the source material slightly to make it relevant to the story. Quite often, due to the fairly strict Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus format of most pop songs, when they are appropriated to the stage they seem slightly naff. A show like Priscilla works for this reason. They don’t want, or need, to provide deep emotional connection through the songs, but simply need to entertain.

Actually, I think most jukebox musicals can be summed up in that last statement.

I get quite snobbish when I get on the subject of jukebox musicals, but I seem to prefer songs within musicals when they were written specifically for the musical/story.

If you think otherwise (and you probably do) then comment.

Convince me otherwise.

I’ve been attending tweetups for about two years now. The idea behind them is that they strengthen connections that you’ve made with the people you talk to on Twitter, as well as introducing you to more like minded people. Most of the tweetups I’ve been to have been based around social media and marketing. That is, quite often they are tweetups about Twitter and how to use it.

One thing I lamented about in Sydney was the fact that there weren’t many people on Twitter from the theatre. Theatre is about community. Twitter is about community. It makes sense, doesn’t it? However, the theatre people I talked to couldn’t really see the value in it and so they stayed away. However, when I got to London it was a different story. I suppose it comes down to the fact that while there are a decent number of theatre loving folks in Sydney, there are a whole lot more in London.

Finally my dreams of having a tweetup solely for theatre people might actually become a reality.

Twespians, the tweetup for theatre types, held it’s first event on the 2nd of February at Theodore Bullfrog in London as part of the global Social Media Week. I was never sure of how successful it would be. I was half expecting that of the 50-60 people who registered, I may only get 10 or 20 people actually turn up. In the end, we managed to get about 40, which was an amazing number.

However, the numbers meant nothing.

Who was there was *far* more important.

The thing that really struck me was the diversity of the people who attended. We had the usual tweetup fodder of journalists, bloggers and marketing/PR types, as well as a mix of actors, directors, musical directors, choreographers, producers, festival organisers, social media artists, theatre administrators and students. Also, the type of theatre was mixed as well. We had musical theatre, straight theatre, physical theatre, dance and spoken word.

To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised.

For some reason, I was expecting majority of musical theatre fans, with a few ‘proper’ theatre people thrown in for good measure (kind of like a cat/pigeons scenario). I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t, and the evening was all the better for it.

Was there value in it, though?

I see Twitter as being used in one of two ways. You have a ‘leader/follower’ arrangement, where somebody has a whole bunch of followers, but doesn’t follow back and only engages when directly engaged with. Then you have the ‘community’ or ‘network’ arrangement. Say you had a diagram of all the people you follow. Draw a line from you to them, then draw lines from them to the people they follow. What you would end up with is very distinct communities, or networks, based around similar interests. For example, mine would have a very distinct social media/marketing/PR circle, as well as a theatre circle. In addition, there’d be smaller circles about fairly specific interests, which are more niche communities.

This second way of using Twitter is where tweetups come in to the equation. What you are effectively doing is strengthen a connection that you’ve already made online, which is made easier by having a common passion. The other thing it does, is break down the barriers that would normally exist in traditional networking situations. Twitter is a level playing field. Tweetups like this don’t only bring people from different areas of the industry, but also different levels. For example, students are networking with newspaper editors and West End musicians. It’s great, and the possibilities that come out of these events are endless. Not only is it great on a personal level, as networking is a key part of succeeding in such a fickle industry, but also it builds a sense of community amongst people who have a passion for theatre.

We’re currently in the process of organising the next Twespians event in London. Follow the twitter account to be kept up to date with what’s happening.  If you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions then leave a comment.

At first this was going to be a post on Marketing theatre (I’m guessing a rather long post), but instead I’m going to use it to give my thoughts on how Twitter could be used to build (and/or strengthen) online theatre communities.

There has been some interesting talk about Twitter and Social Media and their use in Theatre, particuarly around marketing. The Stage published an article last week about internet marketing and building communities through social media, using Legally Blonde: The Musical as an example. There’s also been some good posts over at London Theatre Blog about Social Media and Web 2.0 by Sinead MacManus. However, most of these have been around promotion and marketing, and I really think that Twitter can be used to do more than this.

First things first… There is no one way to use Twitter. It is an extremely powerful tool, and the rules keep getting rewritten by the users themselves. For a decent overview of what twitter is all about, check out the Twitter Wikipedia Entry. If you want a help guide, then check out Twitter’s help portal. If there is anything not covered in either of these, I will attempt to link to a relevent article. Also, this post is relying on the fact that people don’t protect their updates. If you protect your updates, you aren’t willing to fully participate in the wider community.

Twitter is a powerful community building and networking  tool. I have been using Twitter for close to a year and have got to a point where I can’t be away from it for long periods of time (Withdrawal-type symptoms can occur including profuse sweating, gnawing of fingernails/limbs, and random screaming. I’ve almost joined a 12-step program). For the most part, I have used it for a mix of socia and professional networking. Within PR and marketing, Twitter has become a fairly important tool for a number of reasons. Here are the key areas I use Twitter for: networking, sharing, resource gathering and promotion.

Let’s see how each of these could be used for theatre…

Networking

Networking within theatre does happen. However, it seems to happen primarily in and around productions. You build your network by performing in shows, and occassionally by seeing them. However, between shows not much else happens. Also, theatre can be rather cliquey. It is rather impossible to penetrate certain theatre circles due to their closed nature, especially when the only opportunity is to perform with these people, or know someone who has performed with them.

Twitter, on the other hand, seems to put everyone on a more even playing field. Unlike facebook, you don’t have to get approval to follow someone’s twitter feed. That means that you can follow anyone (who doesn’t protect their tweets) from your best mate Tim to Oprah. This also means that you have a means of connecting with anybody you follow through @ mentioning them (similar to tagging and commenting in Facebook) or DMing them (similar to a private message in Facebook).

Where these connections really come in handy is at tweetups. Tweetups offer you an opportunity to meet the people within your twitter network and start to really build a community. When I first started attending networking events within the pr and marketing space, I found it rather difficult considering I didn’t know anyone at all. However, at my first tweetup, there was much less apprehension, considering I had already interacted with quite a few people on Twitter and therefore had a starting point.

Tweetups can then strengthen the bond within your Twitter community, as meeting someone in person can often make the connection more tangible. Also, it’s always great to get a group of people together who are all passionate about the same thing!

Sharing

One of the other great aspects of twitter is the ability to share. When I first starting using Twitter, a common description I heard was ‘it’s just like facebook status updates’. For me, Twitter is more about sharing information with your network (although facebook seems to be incorporating more and more Twitterlike features).

Sharing links to interesting articles, blog posts, youtube videos, events etc. has become a really important part of Twitter. Also, Twitter offers you the ability to ReTweet tweets that you might find interesting or useful, but that your followers may not see in their tweet stream, pushing the original tweet out to a new audience. Sharing interesting and useful information benefits you, as it increases your personal profile within your twitter community. Also, this will spur others to do the same, which will prove beneficial to you…

Collecting resources

The other upside to you posting your links to information is that you can then take advantage of others doing the same. Through this you could find out the most up to date news, find interesting articles and blog posts about theatre and related industries, find out about upcoming events, productions and auditions, take advantage of special deals or get free stuff. It’s all about building a community that is based around a mutual interest, trust and reciprocation.

Another side of collecting resources is the idea of crowdsourcing. This could be as simple as asking your followers a question (sometimes lazy questions, often hashtagged as #lazyweb), to more complicated crowdsourcing possibilities. For example, Next to Normal on Broadway has used crowdsourcing through Twitter in a really interesting way. The composers are using their Twitter account to improve their show. This ranges from running ideas past their Twitter followers, to asking their followers to submit lyrics or song titles to new songs they are writing for the show. They then work these into the show.

Think of all the ways theatre groups could use crowdsourcing… what about an impro show that relied on a twitterfeed from the audience using a hashtag for the event? It’s probably already been done, but there are millions of ways that theatre groups could use crowdsourcing, and for theatre venues or companies, it provides an automatic way to connect with your audiences.

Promotion

Finally, promotion. Let me put this out there… Twitter is not a tool purely for promotion. Many brands have attempted to get on Twitter and push their marketing messages out without attempting to engage at all. Many brands have tried and quickly failed.

The important thing with promoting yourself, your event or your company on Twitter is to provide some value for your followers. Although opinion does vary on this, I believe that it is important to show yourself through your tweets. Mix in personal with professional. Not every tweet needs to be about theatre (or marketing or PR etc etc). The main rules I stick by with my Twitter are One: would I say what I’m about to say on Twitter out loud in a room full of people? Two: would the people in this room be interested in what I’m saying? Three: have I been talking about myself too much?

However, promotion through Twitter can be beneficial. Building strong communities and networks can helpl when attempting to promote something related, as you can leverage your position as an influencer, and also leverage other people within your network who are influencers within their own groups. However, it also comes down to the value of what you are saying. Twitter is a great place to promote through special deals or offers, as this provides value to the other users and they benefit from being connected to you.

Also, authenticity is fairly important when it comes to promotion on Twitter. If you are promoting something that you are involved with, whether it be an event, a production or just promoting your new blog post, make sure you are upfront about your involvement. Nothing is worse than being told about how great something is as if it’s a product endorsement, and finding out that it’s actually that person’s product.

Basically, if you are going to promote something, be upfront and honest about it. Don’t spam and make sure that the people who follow you are actually interested in what you have to say.

Wrapping Up

There are loads of great articles out there on building communities through twitter and general overviews for what social media is. I’ve provided a few links to them below.

Even though this post was a bit of a ramble on how we could use Twitter, I hope it still made sense. If it didn’t, comment and I’ll try and clear things up!

Links:

What the F**k is Social Media? – One Year Later – A great presentation on social media and why it’s important.

How To: Build Community on Twitter – Tips on how to build your own community

Community Building 101: Building a Community on Twitter – Some great rules of thumb on building and maintaining a good community on Twitter