They might not be sporting doublets and hose, and modern day expletives might weave their way into Shakespeare’s elegant verse now and then, but the performers of R+J: Star Cross’d Death Match are using nontraditional means to achieve a very traditional end. They are performing Shakespeare the way it was originally intended: raunchily, unapologetically, and […]
Archives for July 16, 2014
Size Doesn’t Matter – 7 Shorts by DC Playwrights
Size Doesn’t Matter does what it sets out to do by providing a showcase for eager actors. Some of the parts outshine others, diminishing the work as a whole.
Contrafact of Freedom
The moment the lights dim at Hunger & Thirst Theatre Collective’s Contrafact of Freedom, the audience is ferried to early 19th century Maryland where Francis Scott Key is on the cusp of writing the most famous song in American history.
Uncanny Valley: CATF
When we first meet Julian (Alex Podulke), he’s a talking head. The brainchild of techies and artificial intelligence scientist Claire (Barbara Kingsley), Julian is a robot learning to be life-like. Under the patient tutelage of Claire, Julian’s voice loses its robotic cadences, his smile relaxes into naturalness and his blinking seems reflexive.
North of the Boulevard: CATF
Jeez, all the palookas want in North of the Boulevard is an effing break. Is that too much to ask? They don’t want millions or to rule the world. They just want to pay some bills, maybe get ahead, buy some gifts for the kids, not pinch pennies until Abe cries like a girl. Most […]
The Name Game
I thought I walked into Mary Stone Hanley’s the Name Game late. As I took my seat, I saw already on stage a collection of dancers dressed in full-bodied spandex suits gliding back and forth in abstract, improvised movements. Their flitting gestures and facelessness gave them an uneasy phantom appearance.
Empress of the Moon: The Lives of Aphra Behn
We know so little about the remarkable Restoration-era novelist/playwright/spy Aphra Behn (1640?-1689) that her life can serve as a tabula rosa upon which other artists project their own ideas and issues. In Empress of the Moon, playwright Chris Braak has done exactly that. The ideas are not particularly new or startling, but in the slenderized […]
Desire Moments
“This is the end for me,” said Gloria (Temple Fortson) recounting her maturing daughter ignoring her after the school play, “Soon I’ll be the enemy.”
Not Every Card
A crisp fedora, the sound of cards being shuffled, and a dark alley lit only by the end of a burning cigarette: Noir is one of those genres that’s hard to explain, but you know it when you see it. And in the opening scenes of Not Every Card, it’s pretty clear from the start […]
The Program Assistant
Angst. Jealousy. Introspection. Betrayal. These are all emotions that could potentially arise when two cohabitating best friends interview for the same job and only one gets it. Unfortunately, none of these feelings ever make it to the surface with very much vigor in John Krizel’s new play The Program Assistant, a piece about #postgradlife (his […]
The Tumbling
If you go to this show expecting to get it, stop trying so hard and then you might understand it. Jack and Jill fell down the hill and now Jack’s head is a mess. Jill searches for pleasure, Mary Jane and Nell may have found it and Jack can’t find his most treasured part. Lost […]
The Tournament
For a guy who is not into mixed martial arts or kung-fu movies, I sure did love The Tournament. Bold and ballsy and featuring a kick-ass story and even kick-assier action, this show is great theatre.
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