When Reading Gets Dangerous

We opened The Mystery Plays this week, and it's been so great having an audience with this play. The show is a roller-coaster, but I think it leaves the audience with some positive messages, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

But there's a temptation that comes with the opening of shows that I am not yet strong enough to fight: the desire to read reviews.

I'd like to say that I don't read reviews. I'd like to tell you that I don't care about them. That I'm smart enough to avoid them at all costs.

But I won't lie to you. Reading reviews excites me.

I know that people say not to read them. That you shouldn't get any outside ideas in about the show or the performance while you're in it. Negative feedback can ruin your confidence, and even positive feedback can change what you're doing if you're not careful. I've heard that if you MUST read reviews, that you should save the papers and read them when the show is closed. I know all of that...

There's a big difference between knowing the right thing to do and having the will power to actually do it.

So I read the reviews. Well, sort of. To be honest, I really just skimmed them to see if they mentioned me, or the cast as a whole. Somehow, in my mind, that makes it feel like I didn't really read them. It makes me feel less guilty for doing this forbidden thing.

I'm lucky in that, for this show, the reviews have been very positive. And I may have already put some quotations from them up on my personal website. (See? Reading reviews isn't COMPLETELY bad... Right?)

Due to the fact that I'm not great at fighting the temptation to read the reviews, I have to be incredibly strong at fighting the other temptations. I can't be disappointed by them. I can't play into them. I can't change my performance in any way, shape, or form because of them. I have to keep myself in check, and in the world of the show.

Luckily, I think I'm actually pretty good at that one.

So how about you, readers? Do you read reviews?

-- Angela Sauer

P.S. The picture was taken on my birthday last week.