Lantern Theater's "Othello'

Frank X builds to an incandescent climax in the title role of this well-staged Othello. But an understated Iago prevents the production from capturing the play’s full power.

Othello. By William Shakespeare; directed by Charles McMahon. Lantern Theater production through May 4, 2008 at St. Stephen’s Theater, Tenth and Ludlow St. (215) 829.0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.

Robert Zaller

Apr 05, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

PTC's "Third' (2nd review)

Facing death at 55, Wendy Wasserstein reconsidered some of her old certainties. Third, her last play, isn’t her best memorial. But it does contain its share of provocative and original creations.

Third. By Wendy Wasserstein; directed by Mary B. Robinson. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through April 20, 2008 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or

Steve Cohen

Mar 29, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

PTC's "Third' (1st review)

Third, Wendy Wasserstein’s last play, sends up tenured feminists and Wasserstein’s own liberal politics, but it arrives too late for satire and contains too little for drama. Plus, you have to listen to voice-overs from George W. Bush.

Third. By Wendy Wasserstein; directed by Mary B. Robinson. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through April 20, 2008 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or

Robert Zaller

Mar 29, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Merchant of Venice' at Temple

While the current production at Temple’s Tomlinson Theater is unexceptional, all the ingredients are still there: the tension of the pound-of-flesh drama, the glorious poetry, the story of the three caskets. And the anti-Semitism.

The Merchant of Venice. By William Shakespeare; directed by Dan Kern. Temple Theaters production through March 29, 2008 at Tomlinson Theater, 1301 W. Norris St. (215) 204-8414 or

Rathe Miller

Mar 25, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Philadelphia as "Premiere City'

Here is an exciting answer to those urbanologists who worry that Philadelphia no longer makes anything. We can make new plays, every year, just the way we used to make railroad engines and Stetson hats.

Armen Pandola

Mar 11, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

What Spitzer could learn from Shakespeare

New York’s moralistic Governor Eliot Spitzer turns out to have been a customer of a high-priced prostitution ring. How could that be? You’ll find the answer in Measure For Measure, not to mention Pig Iron's recent production of Isabella.

Jim Rutter

Mar 11, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

EgoPo's "Something Cloudy, Something Clear'

Even the usually resourceful EgoPo stage company can’t rescue Tennessee Williams’s last, lugubrious play from its defects: wooden characters, a sluggish plot and— worst of all for one of the theater’s great modern poets— pedestrian dialogue.

Something Cloudy, Something Clear. By Tennessee Williams; directed by Brenna Geffers. EgoPo production through March 22, 2008 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 552-8773 or &nbsp

Robert Zaller

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

EgoPo's "Something Cloudy' (2nd review)

Something Cloudy, Something Clear is a dream-like memory play that was experimental for its time. Critics savaged it in 1981 and again during this revival. But pay attention. Williams still has something to tell us.

Something Cloudy, Something Clear. By Tennessee Williams; directed by Brenna Geffers. EgoPo production through March 22, 2008 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 552-8773 or

Steve Cohen

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Stoppard and the Wilma

Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n Roll represents his most ambitious effort to confront the Czech Communist suppression of free expression that he lived through in the 1970s. Next year this ultimate dissident's play will be brought to the Wilma Theater, whose founders lived through it too. I can’t wait to see how the Zizkas stage it.

Rock ‘n Roll. By Tom Stoppard. Royal Court Theatre London production through March 9, 2008 at Bernard Jacobs Thea

Jim Rutter

Mar 01, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Jiri Zizka and Wilma's "Ying Tong'

Three of the last four plays directed by Jiri Zizka have dealt with artists who suffer for their art. Is this a coincidence? Or is the Wilma Theater’s co-founder, consciously or not, trying to tell us something?

Ying Tong: A Walk With the Goons. By Roy Smiles; directed by Jiri Zizka. Through March 16, 2008 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce. 215.546.STAGE or www.wilmatheater.org.

Jim Rutter

Feb 23, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read