Star Ratings — Why My Performance Analyses Do Not Include Them

In December 2022, I chose to remove star ratings from my analyses.

This was because I believe star ratings are arbitrary — there are no recognised and established industry-wide criteria for what defines a 5-star performance versus a 1-star.

The star rating system is purely connotative: it suggests commercial viability, rate of success, quality, and enjoyability while largely basing these judgements on subjective emotional responses. This is not to mention that "enjoyability" and commercial viability, in particular, are unmeasurable without extensive and particularised study on a per-performance basis.

Particularly for revivals and historical plays, star ratings often coincide with a critic's knowledge and appreciation of how others have executed a performance in the past, judging the current performance against the previous one's perceived "standards". Otherwise, star ratings serve to compare one performance to another in the same genre, style or mode or by the same playwrights/creatives. In this way, star ratings fail to truly reflect the performance's unique success and integrity.

Star ratings are highly subjective responses to your work, and I strive to create performance analyses that approach your work objectively from a critical, dramaturgical standpoint in line with performance criticism, audience theory, and my own personal observations after nearly a decade in this critic-mentor capacity.

It is for these reasons that I do not actively engage in star ratings. The purpose of my performance analyses, and my mentorship in general, is not to give such a stamp of approval; it's to guide creatives towards a successful performance, taking into account its articulacy, efficacy, integrity, organicity, and uniqueness.

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Why Star Ratings Persist

However, it is true that we work within a dog-eat-dog industry that erroneously values accreditation and recorded experience, and star ratings are the perfect distillation to encapsulate all of a critic's responses and thoughts within a review. A star rating is a quick stamp of approval that industry professionals seek to validate a company/creative's success.

And because of this, individual creatives also seek them for their own validation.

For these two reasons, as of August 2026, I am offering commercial reviews alongside my regular performance analyses. More information will be released about these in due time — visit this publication again in August to find out more!

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I'm intrigued: what are your opinions on star ratings? Do you agree with me? Do you look for them when choosing which performances to attend?

I'm always listening to my clients' thoughts, needs, and desires, and there are a few ways to let me know yours — you're bound to see one that suits you!

• DM me at @mytheatrementor on Instagram, on X, or on Facebook.

• Send me a WhatsApp Business message: +447364 189 667

• Email me: contact@leejamesbroadwood.com

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