This October, Online Theatre Review (OTR) launches four new websites in Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, and – the place of its original conception – in Oxford. We hope to have an immediate local presence in each city, while providing people with the opportunity to promote their work through a nationally recognised medium. In Bristol, we hope to make reviewing and theatre more accessible and inclusive. We want to attract diverse audiences to the theatre and hope that our national framework will help to consolidate the links Bristol University has already made with other universities in the Inter-University New Writing Competition it launched last year.

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OTR sends two students to review the first night performance of all student, amateur and professional productions in their university city. OTR’s policy of publishing two reviews of every production is designed to initiate debate, creating a new way of writing about and responding to theatrical events. Our greatest strength is that we are exclusively online: we can be a dynamic, interactive and ever-expandable cultural resource. Our users will post their own event information, request to review online and submit their reviews via the site, leaving our editorial teams free to pursue new and creative ways of extending OTR’s reach.

OTR’s aim is to make theatre accessible to more people. Each sub-site will have a city-specific comprehensive calendar of local theatrical events, and any student theatre-enthusiast can review for us (free tickets for reviewers are decided on a first come first served basis). Portfolio pages will document participants’ contribution to theatre and/or journalism and will serve as a testament to their hard work and as a springboard from which to launch a professional career.