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You should have drafted the content of your review in note form before writing in earnest. You must also make sure that you’ve structured your work so that it makes sense. For example, discuss lighting in one paragraph; don’t spread comments about it throughout the work.

It’s important that you write a good introduction to your review. This is how you set the scene for the reader and it determines if your work is worth reading in its entirety or not! So you need to provide details about the production, its genre, its main actors and any interesting background information.

Avoid telling the story as part of your review. You’re evaluating how well it worked, not explaining it. However, for your work to make sense you need to put your evaluation into context. This means a brief explanation of the basis of the story and its themes, the main ideas or issues explored. Read this example of an introduction to a theatre review:

Willy Russell’s musical, Blood Brothers, is a powerful tale of twin brothers, Edward and Mickey, separated at birth as their mother cannot afford to keep them both. It skilfully explores issues of nature versus nurture and how economic factors affect our life chances. Russell’s social comments are brilliantly embedded in memorable songs and a sharp script as comedy turns to tragedy.

In this opening paragraph the reader has already learnt:

• who wrote the play
• the genre, eg musical, tragedy, farce
• if the musical is of a high standard with the use of adjectives to enhance description like ‘powerful’, ‘sharp’
• the key themes of the piece such as ‘nature versus nurture’
• how the themes were reflected in the music and script.

Remember that once you’ve mentioned a production professional’s name, such as playwright, actor or director you can then use their surname only.