Theater
2712 results
Page 181
Kafka’s ‘The Castle’ at FringeArts Festival
A Kafka who’s not Kafkaesque
Unlike Kafka’s The Trial, the protagonist in The Castle is no victim. He’s an ambitious fellow who might even be a stand-in for Kafka, or even the messiah. Or both.
Articles
3 minute read
The coming season: Awards or rewards?
Hooked on awards, or: What ever happened to word of mouth?
In today’s risk-averse theater climate, every new play or musical in the coming Philadelphia season boasts some sort of pedigree or award. Which raises an interesting question: Is there any play, playwright, actor or director on the planet who hasn’t won an award?
Articles
4 minute read
‘The Rainmaker’ at People’s Light
Between pessimism and delusion in the Great American heartland
The Rainmaker, a compelling character study set on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression, lacks the psychological depth of Cather’s work, but it’s undeniably charming.
Articles
2 minute read
‘A Doll’s House’: the Geffers adaptation (2nd review)
A modern Nora, or just a confused one?
EgoPo’s adaptation of A Doll’s House casts a 14-year-old girl as Nora yet upgrades the subject matter to adult issues like money, sex, and physical abuse. What statement was Brenna Geffers trying to make?
Articles
4 minute read
Bruce Graham’s ‘Any Given Monday’ in Wilmington
The urge to kill
Bruce Graham has cut about 12 minutes from his original 2010 production of Any Given Monday, his take on suburban infidelity and macho revenge. The tightened monologues and a new cast provide a warmer, less boorish, more reasoned glow.
Articles
2 minute read
Renegade’s ‘Bathtub Moby-Dick’ at FringeArts
Captain Ahab in South Philadelphia
Watching Ed Swidey as Captain Ahab in a South Philadelphia living room, I suddenly found myself fighting tears of recognition: Here was the father I never had, taking time to explain and illustrate for a child Melville's most famous masterpiece.
Articles
4 minute read
Matthew Charman’s ‘The Machine’ in New York
Man vs. machine
The historic 1997 chess match between Russia’s Garry Kasparov and an IBM computer is the stuff that modern tragedy is made of: It involves a noble protagonist who, due to a tragic flaw (being human), suffers his downfall.
Articles
6 minute read
‘In the Heights’ at the Walnut
Latins in Manhattan
In the Heights may bear a striking similarity to Fiddler on the Roof, but one of this musical’s strengths is its ability to echo universal themes and Broadway traditions at the same time that it celebrates Latin culture and music.
Articles
3 minute read
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"A Doll's House': the Geffers adaptation
Young Nora
This Doll's House is not a rewrite or a reinterpretation of the classic play. Rather, it's a one-hour introduction to the character who will grow up into the prototypical mother of women's liberation.
Articles
2 minute read
"Ajax' (2nd review) and "Heart of a Revolution'
Two dangerous men
Tucked away in pockets of this year's FringeArts Festival are gems of historical and literary discovery— in this case, about Karl Marx's adultery and the ancient Greek warrior Ajax's savagery.
Articles
6 minute read