Theater
The Zeitgeist Stage Company production has made me rethink Edward Albee’s HOMELIFE to the extent that the couple, well played by Peter Brown and Christine Power, generate a loving bond that adds some welcome tension (and humor) to the revelations of free-floating anxiety and confusion.
Read MoreHenrik Ibsen’s rejection of the everyday drives this compelling take on “Hedda Gabler” – the production generates a theatrical arena that is simultaneously acrobatic and surreal.
Read MoreA Chekhovian dramatic fabric calls for a tough/tender gift for realism. Getting the balance right is tricky — too much reassurance veers toward easy sentimentality, while excessive punishment pushes the proceedings toward soap opera.
Read MoreMay is usually a so-so respite before the summer season revs up, but there’s some interesting productions popping up, including Propeller Theatre Company’s all-male versions of Shakespeare’s Richard III and The Comedy of Errors, Amy Brenneman’s autobiographical show Mouth Wide Open, and an opportunity to see J. M. Barrie take it on in the chin…
Read MoreMinor translation issues aside, The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama‘s excellent selection, colloquial and stage-friendly translations, and illuminating introduction undoubtedly make the volume the authoritative choice in teaching and reading modern Chinese drama for the foreseeable future. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama. Edited and with an introduction by Xiaomei Chen. Columbia University…
Read MoreThis volume of one-act plays may gather up the whiffs and dregs of Tennessee Williams’ achievement, but their flashes of brilliance are valuable reminders of an artist who kept at his craft, come hell and high water, critical as well as popular.
Read MoreWilliam King is a loving, self-sacrificing, salt-of-the-earth character mooning over the vanished past; Sonia is a saintly wife yearning for hubby to join her in Heaven; the sons care for each other and for their father—time to pull out your hankies. Broke-ology by Nathan Louis Jackson. Directed by Benny Sato Ambush. Staged by the Lyric…
Read MoreDostoevsky’s theater is set on a metaphysical stage — both “The Grand Inquisitor” and “9 Circles” explore whether the actions of its central characters are meaningful or absurd.
Read MoreYes, the confusion of my ideas on the subject of death was such that I sometimes wondered, believe me or not, if it wasn’t a state of being even worse than life. –- Samuel Beckett, “Molloy” Fragments. Texts by Samuel Beckett (Rough for Theatre 1, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Come and Go, and Neither).…
Read MoreIn this compelling stage version of “Frankenstein,” urgency of revenge pushes forward, murder upon murder. Creature and Doctor merge in immorality. Both are playing God in their command of life and death. Sharing roles is the meaning of this theatrical experience. This is their message and their show.
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