"Comedy of Errors' in Brooklyn

Shakespeare gets the kitchen sink

What Shakespeare did to Plautus in The Comedy of Errors, Edward Hall's production now does to Shakespeare, in this wild, inspired version set in an all-inclusive holiday package resort somewhere in South America in the 1980s.

Carol Rocamora

Mar 29, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Anna Deavere Smith's "Let Me Down Easy' (2nd review)

It happens to all of us

When I learned that my friend was dying at age 59, I sought comfort from my doctor, my rabbi and my therapist. None of them conveyed as much calming effect as the sense of human commonality in Let Me Down Easy.

Steve Cohen

Mar 28, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Ibsen’s “Master Builder” at People’s Light (1st review)

Ibsen's confession (or is it?)

With its layers of ambiguity, Ibsen's The Master Builder can be confusing, and the lead characters could seem cartoonish. But the People's Light cast is superb, and the tone established by director Ken Marini is perfect.

Steve Cohen

Mar 28, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Lantern Theater's "Midsummer Night's Dream' (2nd review)

If it's spring, thus must be Midsummer

Forget the drabness of the costumes and set. The Lantern's Midsummer places the emphasis where it belongs— on the magic of Shakespeare's luscious language. When you have a talented cast, who needs fancy props?

Alaina Johns

Mar 26, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Kashu-juku Noh Theater at the Perelman (1st review)

From feudal Japan: Models for Wagner, Brecht and the Marx Brothers

A packed house was mesmerized by a sampling of Kyoto's Kashu-juku Noh Theater, an aesthetic born of feudal times in 14th Century Japan.

Jonathan M. Stein

Mar 26, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Anna Deavere Smith's "Let Me Down Easy' (1st review)

Stayin' alive

The multi-talented actor/playwright/journalist Anna Deavere Smith understands how to find obscure dramatic subjects, how to listen to them, and how to perform their stories onstage. The result in this case is an extraordinary meditation on health care, equal parts emotion and intellect, notwithstanding some flaws in her method.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 24, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Lantern Theater's "Midsummer Night's Dream' (1st review)

Everybody into the forest

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's take on love mistaken for infatuation and vice versa, is as endlessly inane and amusing as any episode of "Seinfeld.”

Jackie Schifalacqua

Mar 22, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Tracy Letts's "Superior Donuts' at the Arden (3rd review)

Uplift vs. apathy in the Windy City

Not by happenstance has Tracy Letts placed this story in Chicago's gritty Uptown section. It would be hard to place such a tale in any setting other than the Windy City.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Mar 19, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Sarah Ruhl's "In the Next Room' at the Wilma (3rd review)

Orgasms without love

Sarah Ruhl's new play links the dawn of the electric age with that of the sexual revolution. It's an intriguing idea, and Ruhl makes her points wittily, although they're undermined by a gay subtext and a very campy ending.

Robert Zaller

Mar 15, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Tracy Letts's "Superior Donuts' at the Arden (2nd review)

Nurtured by community

The Arden's new production of Superior Donuts differs vastly from the Broadway presentation I saw in December 2009. The Arden's more intimate house enables greater subtlety, endowing Tracy Letts's parable of urban community with a stronger dramatic arc.

Steve Cohen

Mar 12, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read