How To Give Constructive Feedback
Ms. Ferrarone / Theatre Arts
The purpose of constructive feedback is to provide information that will contribute to improvements and create better results.
For feedback to be useful, it has to be actionable.
(What does this mean?)
Basic Rules About GIVING feedback:
- Always start with something positive about the performance.
Example:“I really liked your accent, but I think it dropped off a little at the end. “
- Talk about FACTS.Although we are all interested in each other’s opinions, try your best to stick to the facts. Think about the things we have covered so far this year like:
Character development
The pre-beat
Objectives, obstacles, and actions
Who are they talking to?
Walking in arcs
Creating “levels”
Facing the audience (Cheating out)
Voice and Speech elements
Posture
If you stick to the areas we have practiced in here, your classmates will understand your criticisms and have ideas about how to work on them. If you give a personal opinion, they may not know how to approach “fixing” it.
- Be specific and give as much detail as possible.
If, at the end of your monologue, I said:
“It was ok, but you need to fix the middle part”,
you’d probably be a little frustrated and confused. What needs to be fixed? Where does “the middle part” start and end?
But, if I said:
“I loved the beginning when you were talking to yourself, trying to work up the courage to make the phone call. Once you answered the phone, you turned upstage and your voice got really low. This made it hard to understand what was happening. I’d like to see you come downstage when you answer the phone and really speak up.”
Well, you get the idea. That gives you A LOT more to work for your next performance.
Take a few minutes and write down some examples of feedback. Give one good and one “bad” example of feedback for each of the 3 rules we just went over:
Rule #1:
Rule #2:
Rule #3: