Theater
2727 results
Page 181
Donmar’s ‘Julius Caesar’ in Brooklyn
Friends, Romans— and women, too
Phyllida Lloyd’s ingenious production of Julius Caesar stages Shakespeare’s classic in a women’s prison with an all-female cast. This audacious concept reveals the play’s relevance to what’s happening in our turbulent political world today.
Articles
5 minute read
Irish Rep’s ‘Juno and the Paycock’ in New York
The boil on the Boyles
The seductive Sean O’Casey masterpiece, Juno and the Paycock, runs the gamut from hilarity to heartbreak in a milieu constricted by both financial and emotional poverty, as well as suppressed rage at the insignificance of Irish lives as filtered through church-influenced godly standards of purity.
Articles
3 minute read
Danai Gurira’s ‘The Convert’ at the Wilma
Who’s the savage?
Danai Gurira’s The Convert uses the classic story of Pygmalion to explore the clash of religion and culture in colonial Africa. The key players, Gurira makes clear, are not the male warriors but the deceptively strong women who linger on the fringes of the struggle.
Articles
4 minute read
‘The Devil’s Music’ at People’s Light
The night before Bessie Smith died
Miche Braden offers a dazzling performance as Bessie Smith, the singer known as “the Empress of the Blues.”
Articles
2 minute read
Life lessons from ‘4,000 Miles’ (2nd review)
Grandparents, grandchildren
and nine life lessons from 4,000 Miles
Vera and her grandson Leo are each lost in a journey of aloneness but determined to somehow survive without complaint. In less than two hours 4,000 Miles brings us nine truths too rarely found in theatrical experiences.
Articles
3 minute read
Amy Herzog’s ‘4,000 Miles’ (1st review)
Grandmother and grandson:
An unequal matchup
As superbly portrayed by Beth Dixon, Vera is the sort of sharp and witty old lady we’d all love to have in our family. Her foul-mouthed, immature grandson is another story.
Articles
2 minute read
Joshua Harmon’s ‘Bad Jews’ in New York
What’s a modern Jew to do?
Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews is a hilarious comedy turned dead serious about the Jewish identity crisis in today’s younger generation. If you’re secure in your own religious identity, then beware: Bad Jews will unsettle your certainties.
Articles
5 minute read
Michael Hollinger’s ‘Red Herring’ at Villanova
In case you missed the ’50s
Michael Hollinger’s Red Herring cleverly juggles a spy drama, romance, a spoof of film noir and a critique of American politics in the ’50s.
Articles
2 minute read
Royal National Theatre’s new ‘Othello’
Iraq and Afghanistan, anyone? Or: Othello, Iago and the culture of war
Nicholas Hytner’s new London production of Othello resonates richly in new ideas and insights into Shakespeare’s tragedy. Here the intriguing emphasis is on what military culture does to men and women alike.
Articles
5 minute read
‘Bunny Bunny’: The real Gilda Radner (2nd review)
Gilda Radner confronts the darkness
In Bunny Bunny, Alan Zweibel has written a love poem about his allegedly unconsummated love for Gilda Radner. The title is an incantation that the TV comedienne recited as a child to protect her from the dark. The play tries to protect the audience in much the same way.
Articles
4 minute read