Musical Theatre Review critic Scott Matthewman has created CritiCal, the first app designed from the ground up for professional theatre critics, available on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Built by Scott and software developer Strange Magic, CritiCal replaces the patchwork of calendars, spreadsheets and note-taking apps that critics have long relied on with a single, purpose-built tool for managing every aspect of the reviewing life.
The app is available as a free download from the App Store, with a premium subscription unlocking advanced features at £5.99 per month or £59.99 per year (with a free one-week trial on the annual plan). The free tier supports up to 30 events with no time limit, making it accessible to occasional reviewers and theatregoers alike.
Solving a problem every critic knows
Professional theatre critics juggle a relentless schedule of press nights, previews and festivals, often attending multiple shows in a single week. Keeping track of confirmations, deadlines, venues and publications – let alone turning reviews around on time – has traditionally meant cobbling together generic calendar apps, email threads and spreadsheets.
CritiCal replaces all of that with a dedicated workflow. Events move through a multi-stage confirmation pipeline, from initial draft through to confirmed or cancelled. Reviews can be tracked from first draft to publication, with word counts, star ratings, pull quotes and direct links to the published piece. The app even scans publication RSS feeds in the background and notifies critics automatically when their review goes live.
Key features:
Event and review management: Track theatre events with full details including venue, genre, festival and duration. Manage reviews through every stage from assignment to publication, with fee tracking per outlet.
Automatic review discovery: CritiCal scans publication RSS feeds and intelligently matches published articles to submitted reviews, sending a push notification when a piece goes live and automatically linking to the URL.
Invoicing and financial tracking: Generate professional invoices for review work, bundle multiple reviews per publication and track payment status. Multi-currency support covers GBP, USD, AUD and EUR on a per-publication basis.
CritiCal Encore — statistical insights: Interactive charts reveal theatregoing patterns over time, including events by month, genre distribution, rating heat maps, most-visited venues and publication breakdowns. All charts include full VoiceOver and audio graph support.
Social sharing: Generate platform-optimised graphics for Instagram, Twitter/X and other social media, complete with star rating, pull quote and a call to action linking to the published review.
Location intelligence: Weather forecasts for upcoming events via WeatherKit, interactive maps with Apple Maps Look Around, and geofenced venue reminders that prompt critics to find their tickets on arrival and write their review on departure.
Deep Apple integration: Native SwiftUI interface across iPhone, iPad and Mac with iCloud sync, multiple home screen and lock screen widgets, Siri voice commands and over 25 Shortcuts actions for building custom automations.
Accessibility: Full VoiceOver support throughout, audio graph descriptions on all chart types, and Reduce Motion support. CritiCal is designed to be usable by everyone.
Built by a critic, for critics
CritiCal was created by Scott, a software developer and theatre critic based in London. Over the course of his career he has reviewed for publications including The Stage, Musicals Magazine, The Reviews Hub and Musical Theatre Review, giving him first-hand experience of the demands and frustrations of professional reviewing.
“Last year I saw nearly 200 shows in over 100 different venues. No calendar app is built for that. So I built something that is. Whether you’re a seasoned critic juggling press nights across the country or a serious theatregoer who wants to keep track of everything they’ve seen, CritiCal is designed to handle the logistics – the scheduling, the confirmations, the invoices – so you can focus on the work itself.”
Availability and pricing
CritiCal is available now on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac, requiring iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26. The app is free to download and use with up to 30 events. Premium features – including unlimited events, document attachments, publications management, Encore statistics, invoicing, social sharing images and location-based reminders – are available via subscription at £5.99/month or £59.99/year (annual subscribers receive a free one-week trial).
For more information, click HERE.
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