"Two Unrelated Plays By Mamet' in New York

Staccato rhythms and male competition, or: David Mamet phones it in

Four plays by David Mamet open in New York this fall, three of them new. Of the first two, School is a lame skit about recycling, and Keep Your Pantheon offers dismaying evidence that the great Mamet isn't above recycling old material himself.

Toby Zinman

Oct 02, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Beckett's "Happy Days' by Lantern Theater (1st review)

When only words remain

In Lantern's production of Beckett's Happy Days, the remarkable Mary Elizabeth Scallen somehow manages to demonstrate simultaneously both the importance and the irrelevance of words. But what words!

Dan Rottenberg

Oct 02, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pisoni's "Humor Abuse' at PTC (1st review)

Son of Pagliacci

To win the love of his clown father— as well as the audience— Lorenzo Pisoni drives his body through every pratfall in the standard clowning handbook. The result is exhausting.

Dan Rottenberg

Oct 01, 2009 · Articles · 1 minute read

"Hermitage' at Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Life in an urban attic

New York's legendary Collyer brothers hoarded 180 tons of materials in their Harlem mansion by the time of their deaths in 1947. Frederick Anderson's Hermitage offers a sympathetic view of two men who withdraw psychologically as their urban neighborhood changes demographically.

Jonathan M. Stein

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

"Microworld(s)' and "Digital Effects' at Fringe Festival.

Solo acts: Micro to magic

In Microworld(s), the last resident of a Tokyo apartment tower provides a metaphor for the ways our humanity survives within modernity's inhuman structures. In Digital Effects Steve Cuiffo takes the magician's art into the post-modern realm. Microworld(s), Part 1. Written and performed by Thaddeus Phillips. Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental production for Philadelphia Fringe Festival. September 4-19, 2009 at Painted Bride, 230 Vine St. (215) 413.9006 or www.pafringe.com/details.cfm?id=9067.

Jonathan M. Stein

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

"Annihilation Point' at Fringe Festival

The future is very funny

In The Annihilation Point, the lunatic crew from Time Mender productions offers a hectic array of fast-paced and unpredictable scenes of the future that generate almost continuous laughter.

Jonathan M. Stein

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Daisey's 'Last Cargo Cult' at Live Arts Festival

Preaching to the choir

Mike Daisey's humorous monologues offer therapeutic relief to the lefty mainstream. But as a performance artist, he lacks the stagecraft or imaginative language of Spalding Gray.

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"small metal objects' at Live Arts Festival

Grasping at intimacy on a city street

small metal objects ingeniously invites us to eavesdrop on an intimate personal conversation in the context of a crowded urban street.

Jonathan M. Stein

Sep 29, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Albee's "Zoo Story' at Villanova

The trouble with Edward Albee (and his characters, too)

Edward Albee's The Zoo Story may be historically important as the moment when American theater began to come out of the closet, but the play itself is dated, and difficult to perform convincingly unless played against the grain. In Joanna Rotté's spacious direction, it reveals some forgotten strengths, but also exposes inherent weaknesses.

Robert Zaller

Sep 26, 2009 · Articles · 8 minute read

Whit MacLaughlin's "Fatebook' at Live Arts Festival (2nd review)

Theater of the future

I approached Fatebook's pre-production preparation with a degree of curmudgeonly skepticism. But I must admit: This show's fashioning of original art out of the newest social media modes of communication is a groundbreaking step into a theater of the future.

Jonathan M. Stein

Sep 26, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read