It’s a terrible, horrible, no-good feeling.

You know the one. That sinking feeling you get when you open up the paper, or click on a website, and realize that the review or article you were so eagerly awaiting on your latest production is, in fact, a big fat hatefest. In industry lingo, it’s what’s known as a “pan.”

It’s so difficult to distance yourself in these situations, and understandably so. After all, they saw your wonderful, smart, beautifully staged production -- the result of so much hard work, of so much creative industry and effort -- and...

they hated it.

They hated it more than you hated that one haircut you got as a kid. More than you hated that sweater your grandparents got you. More than you hate getting a root canal, a tax audit, or having to sit at the DMV… all on the same day.

Yeah. They hated it.

But that’s okay. You’re going to get through it, and I’ve got a few ideas and approaches to help you do that.

First off, make sure to note and bookmark the review, as I mentioned elsewhere in my article on "What to Do When You Get Press." Whether good or bad, you need to keep a log of who’s writing about you, and of what they’re saying.

To Listen, or Not to Listen? (That is the Question...)

Next, it's a good idea to take a deep breath, and strive for a little objectivity. One review, after all, is not really that big a deal in the big-picture scheme of things.

So you can do two things at this juncture -- examine the review again, if you’re a brave soul, to see if the critic’s concerns are valid, and to see if you can find useful or constructive criticism to take away from the piece.

Or you can simply smile, shrug, and move on.

Me, I vote for Door Number Two -- for several reasons. First off, you simply cannot listen to all the critics all the time. Many artists famously will not read their critics at all, and I can’t say that I blame them. Even if all of the criticism or negativity you read is well-meant, it’s bound to have a rather dampening effect on your enthusiasm and belief in your own talent, and before you know it, you may find yourself trying to please everyone but yourself, and listening to everyone but your own self, group, or vision. For an artist or artistic group, that’s a potential disaster. You’re in the arts because you want to create something unique, because you want to follow a particular vision.

So follow that vision, and stop worrying about the occasional negative review. While it certainly hurts to work so hard to produce something that is not well received, you can still learn from the experience. There’s a famous quote often attributed to Woody Allen that basically says something like, “If you’re hitting a bullseye every time, you’re standing too close to the target.”

In other words, art involves risk. You have to stand back a bit, knowing you can’t please all of the people all of the time, in every single thing you do. While the best critics certainly always strive for objectivity, critics are people too, and many simply have their own preferences when it comes to style, period, or genre, just like anyone else.