The Live Performance Mentor
combining critical theory and performance analysis to provide technical feedback for London’s live artists
FAQs
About The Performance Critic
The Live Performance Mentor is a professional service provided by interdisciplinary artist Lee James Broadwood to theatremakers and live performance artists desiring expert feedback on their work.
The service is available in person across the UK and online across the globe, and in the form of consultations, workshops or performance analyses.
Sessions can range from introductory or rapid-advice sessions lasting 30 minutes to full-day sessions lasting 8 hours.
As a provider of performance analyses, The Live Performance Mentor has been active for six years now, releasing analyses both publicly on this site and privately, by request.
During this time, the service has been available in London and Brighton, UK, and in Nantes, France. It was also available across the entirety of the UK and to clients in the USA during the 2020-2021 "lockdowns".
Currently, in-person consultations and workshops are offered in London, and online sessions are available to clients across the globe. Whilst public performance analyses of physical performances are available only to those in London, performance analyses are offered to performances taking place elsewhere or viewable only by recording/livestream.
Where theatre/performance critic newspaper articles or journals, or theatre/performance review blogs, publish commercial reviews or promotional content, The Live Performance Mentor's performance analyses assess the integrity and efficacy of live performances and their origin texts/scores. Though public performance analyses are accessible to all my website visitors, analyses are intended to benefit the overall craft and creative awareness of the theatremakers and performance artists who request them.
Performance analyses assess all aspects of the work, including acting and performing techniques and styles; choreography, dance and movement; story and plot development, structure and continuity; lighting, sound, set and costume design/operation; written texts; and more.
They concentrate on what was original, poignant, articulate and coherent about the performances in study, what was not, and why. It is also common that they suggest alternative methods that could have avoided unwanted tensions, awkwardness, blandness or fallibility.
Performance analyses, unlike commercial reviews, do not provide the reader with subjective responses to or general synopses of performances, nor do they intend to promote the creatives' work to readers or to celebrate the past, present and upcoming successes of these creatives. They are offered for dramaturgical, critical and pedagogic purposes only and consider solely the specific performance in study as it currently stands.
All performance analyses are written by Lee James Broadwood.
Some services are free, yes! Otherwise, services are kept affordable. Please visit The Live Performance Mentor's site to see a full breakdown of services and their prices.
Please note: All reviews are offered subject to the provision of a complimentary ticket to your performance, as per industry standards. The cost of a ticket to your performance cannot be deduced from the amount required for the release of a private review. To cover travel costs is not necessary. No VAT is applied on payment.
The Live Performance Mentor is on social media, yes!
@mytheatrementor across all platforms.
Alternatively, you can follow Lee James Broadwood on all social media platforms, where public performance analyses are shared amongst other exciting content: @ljbroadwood
You can subscribe to this website to be notified whenever new content is released by Lee James Broadwood.
Alternatively, you can follow The Live Performance Mentor on social media to discover public performance analyses and other exciting content: @mytheatrementor
Requesting a Review
In order to request a review, you will need to send a copy of your press release, including all appropriate and necessary information. Click here for contact information.
For more information about requesting a review, please click here.
For information on creating press releases as per industry standards, please click here.
NB: Your performance must take place in London, England, in order to be able to request a review. If your performance is taking place elsewhere in the UK, or across the globe, and livestreams and recordings of your performance are available, you can request a critical analysis from me as part of my dramaturgy service, instead.
You can request a review at any time, but please note that the shorter the notice, the less likely you are to have your request approved. This is due to high volumes of emails received as well as scheduling and availability. Hence, it is recommended that you request your review at least two weeks prior to the performance date.
Yes! Whilst public reviews are free, as part of the Standard Service, private reviews are also offered to requesters at the following rates: £7.50 per 250 words (minimum word count: 500 words).
Private reviews also enable you to choose the area(s) of focus of your critical analysis.
More information on private reviews can be found here.
Private reviews are released only to you and are not accessible to the public, unlike free Standard reviews which are. They are confidential, sent privately to you, and only you, via email upon receipt of payment.
Private reviews are affordable expert analyses of your performances and, unlike Standard reviews, are tailored to focus on your chosen areas of concern, e.g. choreography, character/plot development, acting/performance style, etc. Their word count is also at your discretion.
More information on private reviews can be found here.
NB: The minimum word count of a private review is 500; the maximum: 1,750. Word counts.
Yes, all reviews that are accessible to the public can be privatised, i.e. unpublished and released privately to you alone.
The privatisation of reviews will incur charges at the following rates, where the word count of the review in question is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 250: £7.50 per 250 words.
Critical analyses are currently only offered via The Performance Critic for live performances taking place in London, UK.
However, if your performance is taking place elsewhere in the UK, or across the globe, and livestreams and recordings of your performance are available, you can request a critical analysis from me as part of my dramaturgy service, instead.
You should receive a response within a few days of your review request.
Unfortunately, sometimes, review requests are automatically filtered into spam and junk folders, and this may delay a response. Whilst these folders are checked regularly for this reason, requesters can usually avoid this by the use of clear and appropriate language – such as ‘review request’, ‘invitation to review’ or ‘press release’, etc. – in the subject line and body of their email correspondences.
NB: Emails that are considered to be merely publicity and promotional are overlooked.
Depending on the complexity and duration of your performance, your review will be published 2-4 days after the performance date.
After the conclusion of your performance, you will receive an estimated publish date.
All reviews are released with an 'Additional Notes' section to inform you of supplementary support and information on your performance that exists in excess of the word count and can be provided to you upon request.
NB: Word counts for public reviews are capped at 1,000, and private review word counts are determined at your discretion.