Thanks for the reminder, jerkface!*
2 Fringe bloggers mentioned my performance at Monday's Fringe-for-All. One spoke highly of me. One spoke lowly of me.
How much time did I spend basking in the warm glow of one's praise? About 5 minutes. How much time did I spend shaking and obsessing over the other's condemnation? At least an hour.
Then I remembered something. 2 somethings, actually. The first was about the bloggers themselves. The one who praised my performance is a professional friend. We met through our writing and got to be buddies because we admire each other's work and can stand each other as people. We might grab coffee after a show, but I probably wouldn't invite him to my birthday party, and vice versa.
The one who panned my performance represents what I consider to be the worst parts of theater - all of them - both as a writer/performer and as a person. So what on Earth made me think that he would feel anything different about me?
The second thing I remembered was that I told myself, way back in February, that I was not going to read any reviews until the Fringe was over. I'd forgotten that. If it goes for my show, I suppose it should go for my previews, as well.
Intellectually, I realize that, as a writer and performer who's putting my stuff out there for people to see, I ought to grow a thicker skin, so I can both enjoy my champions and learn from my detractors. But until that happens (if it happens - hey, I'm only human), I can save myself a lot of grief and raised blood pressure by avoiding those reviews. Some people will dislike what I do. I'm OK with that. In fact, I actually kind of like it.
I just don't want to read about it until the festival is over.
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*This is my tribute to Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface! a 2006 Fringe show I did not see but hear was quite good.