Reviewing for LondonBoxOffice.co.uk
We are currently recruiting new critics for LondonBoxOffice.co.uk, one of London’s busiest sites for ticket sales.
We love to promote views on London theatre productions from as wide a spectrum as possible but are particularly keen to feature writers with some link to the theatre industry who feel able to emphasise the positive.
Benefits
We hope you’ll enjoy the free tickets we can provide, find the exposure of writing for us to be beneficial and, most importantly, that you’ll have fun.
Review Allocation
Writers can then volunteer to review anything of interest to them and assignments are allocated on a “first come-first served” basis.
Reviewers are usually allocated a single ticket. +1s are sometimes possible but assume you’ll be attending alone.
We’d like you to review a show for us AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH but we appreciate there may be periods when you need to scale back your reviewing due to other commitments.
What you'll be reviewing
We are particularly keen to recruit writers with a particular interest in London’s fringe and alternative theatre scene as this is an area of our city’s culture which badly needs wider coverage.
There will be occasional opportunities to review West End shows too but you should only apply to join our team if you are interested in regularly writing about a whole range of theatre, and discovering and evaluating work which you may not otherwise have considered attending.
We are also keen to recruit reviewers with a particular interest in dance and children’s theatre as these are areas in which we’d like to expand our coverage.
How to apply
Please send a sample 3-400 word review of any recent production you’ve felt strongly about, based on the following style guide, to our chief critic at the email below.
Style guide
Our favourite critics write simply and concisely about the theatre they see in a way that will engage the occasional theatre goer, who is browsing our site without specialist knowledge.
Short punchy sentences best engage our readers.
You should avoid stylistic flourishes, gratuitous wit, and expanding on your own personal agendas or philosophies as our readers are predominantly interested, not in you, but in whether a show will appeal to them and is worth investing their time and money in seeing.
You’ll need to write for a readership who won’t be familiar with industry terms and abbreviations e.g. E.N.O, N.T or who Trevor Nunn is.
Your 300 – 400 word review should conform to the following format:
- A sentence or two of context e.g. what, where, and perhaps why, the show is being produced. This short opening paragraph will appear in bold in our review menu so it needs to be concise and to make readers want to click through to read your full piece.
- A paragraph or two concisely outlining the plot without spoilers. (This is the most important section for our readers and yet the one which many rookie critics forget to focus on. Our readers may well not have your prior knowledge of, say, the plot of Twelfth Night)
- A sentence or two about the performances, design and directorial decisions you enjoyed. This may include reference to things you didn’t like but we are keen to always emphasise the positive unless a show is lazy or cynical – in which case feel free to let rip.
- A concluding sentence or two about who might enjoy the show and why, even if you didn’t like it.
Although we are a ticket sales site we want you to write honestly and there’s no necessity to be positive simply to promote sales.
Please head you reviews complying to the following format, punctuation and case:
Review: HAMLET at The Old Vic
★★★★ (Allocate the production a rating from 1 – 5. Five being the highest rating for excellence. We don’t do ½ stars)
By (your name)
(The text of your review)
Please email your sample review for consideration to contact@londonboxoffice.co.uk with Reviewing Submission as the email title.
Finally, please note that you MAY NOT source tickets directly from press agents and producers in our name. Attending any production on behalf of London Box Office must be approved.
We hope to hear from you and that you’ll enjoy the challenge of being part of a dialogue promoting London Theatre.
