This week is a very exciting week for me and for anyone else blogging about all things theatrical. This week, as I was informed by the twittersphere, is Theatre Blogger Week. Hurrah! So in between frantically writing essays and trying desperately to think of a dissertation title (blind panic is the phrase that comes to mind!) I have taken some time to think about all the things I love about theatre blogging.
It has not been very long since I dipped my toe into the rather large pool of theatre blogs, but I would like to share my limited wisdom with the world and in particular with anyone else out there thinking of blogging about their theatre experiences. Here are just five of the many reasons why theatre blogging rocks and you should all go out and do it:
1. Sharing your passion. I personally have massive respect for anyone who has a passion for anything. It might be, like me, that your passion is theatre, or it could be books (another passion of mine), music (ditto), sports, stamp collecting – whatever floats your boat! You might even have a passion for something slightly bizarre that not many other people understand (such as my flatmate, who has an interest bordering on obsession with hurricanes ...). But there is probably someone else out there who feels as strongly as you do about this particular thing and would like to hear your ramblings on that subject. Obviously I'm especially interested in reading blogs by other people who are passionate about theatre, but whatever your interest, share it with the world; sharing is good.
2. Getting bitten by the writing bug. I’m someone who has loved writing for pretty much as long as I could hold a pen, but I’ve spoken to other people who never thought about writing until they started a blog and then realised that they loved it. Writing can be extremely therapeutic and even if not many people read what you’ve written (as I suspect may be the case with my blog) there’s still a lot that you can get out of it.
3. Engaging with others. This goes back to my first point about sharing your passion. Once you have discovered these wonderful people who have the same interest as you it’s great to read what they have to say about it and respond with your own thoughts and vice versa. Like sharing, communication is good. So if you have an opinion about anything I’ve written in my blog, leave me a comment – I dare you.
4. Constructive feedback. If, eventually, you get enough readers that people in the industry start to notice your little blog, it's a great way to show the actors and creative teams behind our wonderful theatre that you appreciate what they do for a living. In these dark days for the arts when funding cuts threaten our theatres we all need to show our support in whatever way we can, and blogging can be a great way of illustrating to those who control the purse-strings just how many people value theatre and how much it contributes to British society. Unfortunately I don't yet have anywhere near the number of readers to make much of an impact, but a girl can dream!
5. Doing what you love. I love theatre. I love writing. So as something that combines two of my greatest loves, theatre blogging is pretty much perfect. I have also found that since starting this blog I have been engaging with the theatre I see far more than I did in the past and it is a spur to go out there and see more and more shows. For me (and this is after only a couple of months) theatre blogging has been such a rewarding experience and I would recommend anyone with an interest in theatre to try it for themselves.
So go on, give it a try, write a blog of your own, whether it's about theatre or anything else you want to write about (perhaps even hurricanes!). If anyone reading this already has a blog and can think of more reasons why it's amazing then please leave a comment. And as it's Theatre Blogger Week it would be great to know about other interesting/funny/wacky theatre blogs out there.
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