Theater

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Page 219
Smith, Parker, Ford: Someone should have listened to Seneca. (Photo: Paola Nogueras.)

"That Pretty Pretty: Or, the Rape Play,' by Theatre Exile

Less than meets the eye

That Pretty Pretty isn't a play; it's a play about writing a play. Playwright Sheila Callaghan introduced numerous big post-modernist ideas but fails to develop any of them into a coherent narrative. That Pretty Pretty: Or, the Rape Play. By Sheila Callaghan; Joe Canuso directed. Theatre Exile production through December 5, 2010 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St. (between Second and Third Sts. and Market and Arch). (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.

Pamela Riley

Articles 2 minute read
DalCanton, Hodge: Gordon Gekko in utopia.

InterAct Theatre's "Silverhill'

Trouble in paradise

The InterAct's premiere of Silverhill, a canny drama about a 19th-Century utopian community, freshly poses perennial questions about who defines social justice and how much of it we really want. Christopher Coucill heads a fine ensemble cast, and Seth Rozin's direction is trenchant.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 4 minute read
Tsoutsouvas as Socrates: The arrogance of wisdom. (Photo: Bas Slabbers.)

Plato's "Apology' by Quintessence Theatre Group

Socrates for the age of Obama

How should a community respond to someone who's the smartest fellow in town but also an obnoxious pain in the ass? That's the intriguing question posed by Quintessence Theatre Group's bold and entertaining adaptation of Plato's Apology.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 3 minute read
Round up the usual suspects.

"Rent' by 11th Hour Theatre Company

Let's put on a show! (But not necessarily Rent)

The promising 11th Hour ensemble steps outside its customary intimate comfort zone with its current production of Rent. The bad news: This troupe adds little to Jonathan Larson's overexposed musical, which is already beginning to show its age.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 3 minute read
Entertaining? Very. Racist? Hardly. (Photo: Sara Krulwich, New York Times.)

"The Scottsboro Boys' on Broadway (1st review)

Two cheers for the minstrel show

Those Broadway pickets who object to the minstrel format of The Scottsboro Boys miss the point. This musical tells a disturbing story of racism through a device that's racially charged, and also very entertaining.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 5 minute read
Lynch, Sanford: A world that's changing, for the worse. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

Lantern Theater's "Uncle Vanya' (2nd review)

The landed gentry, awaiting extinction

Chekhov's Uncle Vanya is, like his other works on turn-of-the-20th-Century Russia, a comedy that breaks the heart. It's well served in the Lantern Theater's current production.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 8 minute read
Shepherd (right) with Gary Wilmes: A whole chapter by heart.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Gatz' in New York

The power of many, many, many words

The entire Great Gatsby, read word for word on stage aloud, in the course of seven hours plus a dinner break? Yes— and it's one of the most valiant coups de théâtre I've ever seen: a stunning theatrical feat of virtuosity and sheer audacity.

Carol Rocamora

Articles 5 minute read
DelMarcelle, DeLaurier, Sanford: The cupboard is bare. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

Lantern Theater's "Uncle Vanya' (1st review)

Empty lives, up very close and personal

Lantern Theater's production of Uncle Vanya is unusually intimate, shining more focus than usual on the unheralded characters in Chekhov's tragicomedy of dissolute gentry. The cast rises to the challenge.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 4 minute read

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Murphy, Shiels: Being a suitor isn't all fun and games.

Enda Walsh's "Penelope' in Brooklyn

Odysseus is coming, and, boy, is he steamed

In this existential tragic burlesque, the powerhouse young Irish playwright Enda Walsh redefines the unnamed suitors of Homer's Odyssey. Here they emerge as minor, vile characters— men we never even thought about until now.
Toby Zinman

Toby Zinman

Articles 3 minute read
Hutchison, Sisto: Ghosts in the skies.

Beau Willimon's "Spirit Control' in New York

One moment that changes everything

In Spirit Control, the high drama of an airport tower fades as a controller picks up the pieces years later. He's haunted by a tragedy; I was haunted by the aftermath.

Jane Biberman

Articles 3 minute read