Bill Marx

Arts Commentary: Pestilence on Stage, Part One — Karel Čapek’s”The White Plague”

April 1, 2020
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The White Plague uses dread to shock us into empathy for ourselves, to be alarmed by the fragility of our bodies as well as the resources and ethics of the medical system.

Book Commentary: “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” and the Literature of COVID-19

March 21, 2020
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“The body is a curious monster, no place to live in, how could anyone feel at home there? Is it possible I can ever accustom myself to this place?”

Theater Commentary: A Memorable “Merchant of Venice” — Squeezing Blood Out of a Rubber Chicken

March 17, 2020
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This was an enormously exciting production of Merchant of Venice, a reminder that theater can be (in fact, must be!) nervy.

Film Review: “What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” — Rebellion Has an Expiration Date

February 21, 2020
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Pauline Kael capitalized on counterculture snobbery, the pecking order of the oh-so enlightened.

Theater Review: “Sweat” — Icarus’s Children

February 12, 2020
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For me, Sweat hits its riveting stride in its second half, when the pressures of the strike tests the relationships of its working class characters.

Theater Review: “King John” — Fractured History Lesson

February 5, 2020
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Praxis Stage picked the right time to stage a Shakespeare play about a head of state who doesn’t have anything on his mind but corruption.

Book Review: “The Stakes” — For America, Higher Than You Think

January 29, 2020
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For America to get back on track, “It will take inspired radical leadership, mass organizing, and citizen mobilization of the kind that we see only in America’s finest hours.”

Theater Review: “We All Fall Down” — Flat

January 29, 2020
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In the spirit of Passover’s four questions, I will ask: Why this play of all plays?

Theater Review: “Timon of Athens” — Greed is not Good

January 24, 2020
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Timon is a fascinating, if lumpy and bumpy, black comedy with a nihilistic sting, a lacerating parable about how the worship of gold warps individuals and society.

Theater Review: “The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes” — Cognitive Play

January 24, 2020
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The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes suggests some marvelous possibilities.

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