You can follow Ms TN on Twitter at @alisoncroggon

This is the archive of Theatre Notes, a blog kept by me, Alison Croggon, a writer who lives in Melbourne, Australia, between 2004 and 2012. I was Melbourne theatre reviewer for The Australian from 2007 to 2010 and have irregularly reviewed books for ABC Radio National's The Book Show. Between 1989 and 1992 I was Melbourne theatre reviewer for The Bulletin. In 2009, I was named Geraldine Pascall Critic of the Year for my work on this blog and in the Australian. The Guardian named me as a "must-read" critic, along with luminaries such as Pauline Kael, Susan Sontag and James Wood.

I was a panelist for the Helpmann Awards from 2009/10. Since 2010 I have been a member of the Editorial Advisory Panel for Meanjin magazine and a regular columnist and poetry reviewer for Overland Journal. From 2007/8 I was a panelist for the Green Room Awards and I was a member of the 2005 and 2006 Artistic Counsels for the Malthouse Theatre. As a member of the Counsel, an unpaid position, I offered criticism and feedback at the end of each season as part of the the theatre's process of self-assessment: a task I saw as complementary to the work I did on TN. From 1997 to 2002 I served on the board of the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project. I am married to the playwright Daniel Keene.

Theatre Notes was sponsored by no one, apart from the usual provision of theatre tickets by theatre companies. In cases where there might be perceived to be a conflict of interest, aside from those mentioned above or in my biography, I followed Robert Brustein's example as a practitioner/critic and declared my interest at the bottom of the review.

My reasons for making this blog and the philosophies behind it are outlined in my first post in June 2004 and more recently here.

An essay by Jana Perkovic reflecting on the cultural importance of Theatre Notes can be found on Guerilla Semiotics.


"Provocatively intelligent"
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

"Want to find out about theatre in Australia? Try Theatre Notes."
Culture Vulture, The Guardian

"Impossible to fault, and hard to beat"
Gerard Windsor, Sydney Morning Herald

"astringent but precise and passionate perception, thy name is Croggon"
George Hunka, Superfluities

"Invigorating writing, thoughtful and extremely eloquent"
Encore Theatre Magazine

All writing on Theatre Notes, except that specifically attributed to guest authors, is copyright Alison Croggon 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.



Theatre Notes by Alison Croggon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.