Theater

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Felder (left) and Bossler: Punch 'n Judy at a safe Irish distance. (Photo: Brian Sidney Bembridge.)

McDonagh's "Lieutenant of Inishmore' (3rd review)

Bonnie and Clyde, without the banks

If you like your stage bloody and your humor stuck in the fifth grade, Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore is the play for you. Theatre Exile is to be congratulated on every aspect of this production, except for its choice of a play.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 6 minute read
DaPonte (left) and Bunting: Preparing for a bloodbath. (Photo: Brian Sidney Bembridge.)

McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore' (2nd review)

The light side of brutality

Martin McDonagh's gruesome and very funny comedy concerns the stupidity of the culture of revenge— especially the hypocrisy of people who'll cry over a dead cat but won't hesitate to kill their political enemies.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 2 minute read
Van Horn, Dibble: Who is the fairest of them all?

"The Ugly One' at Walnut's Studio 3

Is this Beckett, or Benny Hill?

Is beauty merely in the eye of the beholder? This 90-minute play by the German dramatist Marius Von Mayenburg is part Beckett and part Benny Hill. Depending on your taste, you'll either love it or find it mildly annoying.
Jackie Schifalacqua

Jackie Schifalacqua

Articles 3 minute read
Alltop as Artaud: A brilliant mind on opium.  (Photo: Steve Demarinis.)

EgoPo's "Artaud Unbound'

A beautiful (but damaged) mind

The mission of theater, said the French actor/playwright Antonin Artaud, is to create unforgettable moments of truth. He wound up in a straitjacket, and forgotten to boot. EgoPo's four playlets help rescue a brilliant theatrical figure from obscurity. Artaud Unbound. Four plays by Antonin Artaud, directed by Lane Savadove, Brenna Geffers, Matt Wright and Michael Alltop. EgoPo Theater production ended February 20, 2011 at the Latvian Society, 531 N. Seventh St. (800) 595-4849 or www.egopo.org.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 3 minute read
DaPonte (left) and Bunting: Preparing for a bloodbath. (Photo: Brian Sidney Bembridge.)

McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore' (1st review)

When things get out of hand

Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore concerns what happens when a disagreement mushrooms into mindless violence beyond anyone's control. And it asks the audience an uncomfortable question: Why are we laughing?

Pamela Riley

Articles 3 minute read
Guy Boyd (left), Jeremy Strong, Julianne Nicholson: And the moral is.... (Photo: Sandra Coudert.)

Adam Rapp's "Hallway Trilogy' in New York

Grungy, grungier and grungiest

A Lower East Side hallway set in the past, present and future is the site of three plays by the allegedly daring Adam Rapp. The net result is five hours of sloppy, empty playwriting and schlock shock tactics, signifying nothing.
Toby Zinman

Toby Zinman

Articles 5 minute read
Rush as Poprishchin: A Technicolor specter.  (Photo: Heidrun Lohr.)

"Diary of a Madman' in Brooklyn

A genius for portraying madness

Geoffrey Rush, who seems to have cornered the market on inspired lunacy, has done it again. This time he's Aksenty Poprishchin, Gogol's immortal definitive urban "little man," driven mad by an uncaring world. Rush and director Neil Armfield have turned the story into a tragic vaudeville, both hilarious and harrowing, acted out with spectacular theatricality.

Carol Rocamora

Articles 5 minute read
Eisenhower: Now for the solo album.

"The Last Five Years' at Media Theatre.

Anatomy of a breakup

The Last Five Years is a two-character musical about a couple's romance, based on its creator's own wrecked marriage. It's a triumph of style over substance, thanks especially to excellent performances by Jennie Eisenhower and Marcus Stevens.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 3 minute read
McCormick (left), Jezior: Even his boozy breath was real.

Sara Kane's "Blasted' by Luna Theater

Seeing is believing

Sarah Kane's Blasted forces us to witness every conceivable type of psychological and physical violence. It requires tremendous fortitude to watch. But its sincere frankness hits home.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 3 minute read
Black-Regan (and Dura on the floor): 'It's only a symbol.'

Boris Vian's "Empire Builders' at Walnut Studio 5 (1st review)

Downward mobility, or: For whom the noise tolls

In Boris Vian's creepy and intensive absurdist work from 1957, a Paris family is constantly moving upstairs to escape a mysterious noise downstairs. It's a dazzling metaphor for the fear currently pervading the world's economic frustrations.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 3 minute read