Theater
2727 results
Page 243
Berczynski's "Life Is a Dream'
The depths of narcissism
In her latest one-woman exploration of narcissism, the gorgeous exhibitionist Aleksandra Berczynski engages in less complaining and more pondering about the unfortunate aspects of her existence.
Articles
4 minute read
"Edgar Allan Poe Comes Alive' at Fringe Festival
Poe as Rip Van Winkle
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, and Scott Craig Jones is Poe reincarnated. Too bad he chose to bring Poe into the present, instead of taking the audience back into Poe's past.
Articles
2 minute read
Pig Iron's "Welcome to Yuba City!' At Live Arts Festival (2nd review)
Shooting fish in a barrel
Dexterous characterizations and vivid costumes make Welcome to Yuba City! the funniest show in this year's Live Arts/Fringe Festival. But most of its humor derives from poking derisive fun at exaggerated stereotypes.
Articles
4 minute read
Whit MacLaughlin's "Fatebook' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Actions and consequences in cyberspace
Whit MacLaughlin's Fatebook asks rhetorically: What actually happens in cyberspace? The answer eludes him, but in the process his 15-person troupe provides one of the most unique and immersive theatrical productions I've ever experienced.
Articles
4 minute read
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Pig Iron's "Welcome to Yuba City!' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Way out West: A finely tuned ridiculousness
Pig Iron's Welcome to Yuba City! lampoons the absurdity of America's Western mythic culture while simultaneously displaying respect and affectionate empathy for its values— no easy feat in comic theater of this sort.
Articles
4 minute read
Mike Daisey's "How Theater Failed America'
Is there an economist in the house?
In a 100-minute rant, Mike Daisey purports to expose the economic forces destroying American theater. He succeeds in demonstrating only that actors know nothing about economics.
Articles
3 minute read
Canada theater festival roundup
Only 24 hours from Broad Street: Five provocative days in Canada
In two charming Ontario towns through early November, you'll find theater as good as New York's or London's. At the Shaw and Stratford Shakespeare Festivals, I managed to squash eight plays and a hippy-dippy folk concert into five days. Here's what I saw.
Articles
8 minute read
Mauckingbird's "Never the Sinner'
Leopold and Loeb, punished again
Fascinating performances, highly nuanced direction and strong production values manage to infuse tremendous theatrical power into John Logan's otherwise mediocre retelling of the famous 1924 Leopold-Loeb murder case.
Articles
3 minute read
Summer camp for show biz hopefuls
Tricks of the trade
Summertime, and many theater companies defray their fixed costs by conducting training camps for aspiring performers. But such camps are not all alike, as a recent exhilarating week-long program in Verizon Hall— more intense and more professionally-focused than the summer training schools run by several of Philadelphia's theater companies— reminded me.
Articles
4 minute read
Greek travesty: Euripides's 'Helen' in London
Euripides has a problem
The rarely performed Helen by Euripides is late Attic tragedy with a comic twist, as the beauty queen of ancient Greece is reunited with her husband Menelaus after the Trojan War. Deborah Bruce's production misconceives its material, and the result, despite Penny Downie's doughty performance in the title role, is neither comedy nor tragedy but travesty instead.
Articles
6 minute read