‘Bloodline’ on Netflix

How slow can you go?

I’m willing — nay, happy — to settle in with a show and see what happens, but Bloodline sorely tried my patience.

Judy Weightman

Apr 05, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

'Hamlet' at the Wilma (second review)

Troubled prince or angry teen?

An overstylized Hamlet intrigues and baffles.

Naomi Orwin

Apr 04, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

'Hamlet' at the Wilma (first review)

Playing against type

The Wilma Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while elaborately and balletically staged, fails to offer an answer to the play’s most compelling question: Who is Hamlet himself?

Robert Zaller

Apr 04, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Interview with Christopher Patrick Mullen on the Arden's 'Macbeth'

Drunk at the gates of hell

Rewriting Shakespeare is a risky business. Christopher Patrick Mullen, who rewrote the Porter’s speech in the Arden’s current production of Macbeth, addresses that issue, especially the struggle between irony and clarity for a contemporary audience.

Henrik Eger

Apr 03, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

'Unveiled' by Rohina Malik

Under the hajib

Playwright Rohina Malik argues that a woman’s hijab, or head covering, opens her to the world even as it seems to close her off. It also opens her to some hard truths about looking different.

Marshall A. Ledger

Apr 03, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

'The Taming of the Shrew' at the Lantern (second review)

Taming through tango

Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew is not exactly a play for our times, but the Lantern production makes it fun while avoiding some of the tougher issues.

Naomi Orwin

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

'The Taming of the Shrew' at the Lantern (first review)

Shrewed Shakespeare

In the Lantern’s updated Taming of the Shrew, the overall mood is comic and Kate and Petruchio begin as caricatures, but their characters deepen as events unfold. They gradually form a bond that is both stronger and more honest than Shrew’s more traditional couples.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

Three concerts by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

From the rage of Prometheus to the horn player’s lament

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society crowded a busy week with concerts that presented a good sample of the variety hidden behind the chamber music label.

Tom Purdom

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

'A New Brain' by 11th Hour

A lesser-known masterpiece

Philadelphia got to hear a neglected masterpiece about one of America’s best songwriters recovering from near-death.

Steve Cohen

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

Frederic Church's Olana

The art of landscape

I visited Olana on the first day of spring with chilly air, bare trees, snow on the ground, and ice in the Hudson. The house or villa or monument is a marvel, a fantasy, an unlikely but pleasing blend of styles — Persian, Moorish, Italian, and then some.

Joanna Rotté

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read