Theater
2725 results
Page 240
Sport vs. theater: "Chad Deity' and "Grace'
Sport vs. theater: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
Americans are famously sports-obsessed, but you'd never know it from most plays. Two new productions cross the line by presenting professional wrestling and mountain climbing on stage. Both represent refreshing attempts to expand theater's relevance, not to mention its audience.
Articles
4 minute read
Wendy Hammond's 'Absence' at People's Light
Scenes from a CIA marriage
Wendy Hammond's Absence, currently receiving its world premiere at People's Light, incisively explores the impact that a career in the CIA has on a marriage over time. I've never seen stage actors age more effectively than Greg Wood and Judith Lightfoot Clarke.
Absence. By Wendy Hammond; directed by Ken Marini. Through November 8, 2009 at People's Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. (610) 644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org.
Articles
2 minute read
"Alegria' vs. "Humor Abuse'
Send in the genuine clown
If you want to enjoy Lorenzo Pisoni's Humor Abuse, I suggest you see Cirque du Soleil's Alegria the day before, as I did. Alegria's clowns demonstrate far less dexterity, originality and humor than Pisoni does. And he's a more engaging fellow, too.
Articles
3 minute read
"Krapp's Last Tape' by the Lantern
A tragic playwright, or a comic one?
The Lantern's mini-festival of Samuel Beckett, set against its mainstage production of Happy Days, featured Frank X in two performances of Krapp's Last Tape, a tour de force for a male performer and, like all of Beckett's work, a meditation on identity and time.
Krapp's Last Tape. By Samuel Beckett. Lantern Theater production October 12, 2009 at St. Stephen's Theatre, 923 Ludlow St. 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org
Articles
3 minute read
Mamet's "Oleanna' revived in New York
Hubris on the loose, again
Still aggravating, still shocking, still engrossing after all these years, David Mamet's Oleanna is receiving a fierce and fine revival on Broadway starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles.
Articles
4 minute read
"The History Boys' at the Arden (2nd review)
Is there an acoustician in the house?
Alan Bennett's The History Boys is a witty play about the value of education and a paean to the joys of language. But for all the choreographic staging and careful attention to accents in the Arden's current production, the actors' words themselves are often inaudible.
Articles
4 minute read
'Nathan the Wise' at People's Light (2nd review)
When a playwright sticks his neck out
Gotthold Lessing's Nathan the Wise is an 18th-Century brotherhood plea that flunks most standard tests of drama and betrays little realistic knowledge of Jews, Muslims and even Christians. Its author's utopian idealism renders it fascinating nevertheless.
Articles
5 minute read
Beckett's "Happy Days' by the Lantern (3rd review)
Humanity's last gasp
A play should offer us more than what we see. The longer the two of us have spent talking about Happy Days— arguing about it, thinking about it— the richer it has become. That's what distinguishes Beckett's work from Lorenzo Pisoni's Humor Abuse.
Articles
6 minute read
"First Day of School' by 1812 Productions
Sex and the married parent
What do parents do when they've packed the kids off to school? They fool around, yes, but Billy Aronson's sophisticated sex farce never loses its grasp on reality, and a first-rate cast of comic actors expertly builds a sense of cumulative ridiculousness.
Articles
4 minute read
"The History Boys' at the Arden (1st review)
Don't know much about history…
Beyond an exceptional acting ensemble, in The History Boys the Arden stages a sharp intellectual prep-school drama that cuts to the core of if, how and why a society should value art, culture, education and learning.
Articles
3 minute read