Theater
“As a white atheist male I am told it is none of my business to deal with what‘s going on in the so-called de-colonized societies enforcing their religious laws on their citizens.” — Joshua Sobol
Leaving aside the doctrinal issue of how much of a commedia dell’arte evening should be improvised and how much should be scripted, the Yale Repertory Theatre production, in terms of performance and design, sets a high standard.
After seeing many flat and boring adaptations of books over the past year, I recommend director Piotr Fomenko’s playful adaptation of Tolstoy’s Family Happiness to writers and directors wanting to turn literature into drama.
Life can be found under any stone, in any crack in the sidewalk. But I admit I yearn for being taken on a grander voyage, higher, deeper than any sitcom can take me.
For all of its earnest interest in healing some of the great divides in American life, Other Desert Cities ends up slighting the desert spaces that lie between us.
For me, the fact that Bread and Puppet Theater has survived for 50 years is very hopeful, essentially because company members have never wavered from their principles. Imagine that. You can be radically principled and survive!
The Whistler in the Dark production does right by the gaunt power of “Vinegar Tom” — if only dramatist Caryl Churchill hadn’t served up such a tidily edifying coven of alleged sorceresses.
An adaptor has to make choices, and this theatrical version of “Invisible Man” focuses on the novel’s most straightforward narrative strand.
In this production, director Piotr Fomenko “wanted to explore whether family happiness is even possible, the fight to keep it and the fear of losing it.”
The Lyric Stage actors and pianist Catherine Stornetta do an excellent job making all of “33 Variations” intelligible and, sometimes, very funny.
Recent Comments