Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is the first selfie poem. Like the camera phone portraits glutting social media, “Song of Myself” is an unabashed proclamation of identity and celebration of being. But whereas most selfies feature the subject holding a camera up to a mirror to capture their own hot bodz, Whitman holds his poem […]
Archives for July 2014
C-
When am I ever going to use this stuff? said every college student ever. Well, apathetic academics, take note of Eric Jaffe who, in C- , bases an entire 55 minute, one-man show on all the crap he did, or didn’t, learn in the halls of higher learning. Taken from interviews with 65 of Jaffe’s […]
A Fire in Water
At Fringe, expect the unexpected, and I certainly did not expect a full-blown opera complete with classical Greek heroes and goddesses. A Fire in Water is a work that forges it all together. The production playing in the Lang Theatre at Atlas navigates pretty darn well between the Charybdis and Scylla of epic-style theatre and […]
Hey, Hey, LBJ!
It’s definitely a good sign when there is a line to enter a theatre. Hey, Hey, LBJ! proved to be the reason. Performed by Army reporter David Kleinberg over 40 years after his post as a combat correspondent, the play came across exactly as intended, raw with emotion.
Coosje
Written collectively by the tight ensemble No. 11 Productions from New York, Coosje combines words, music, an art installation, and projections to tell the story of the romantic relationship and artistic partnership of conceptual artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen. As such, the work, served up by DC Fringe on its opening night, was […]
Love Song to Miss Kitty
My notes from opening night: “Funny lime slicing.” “Pretty awkward. Is it supposed to be this way?” “Why do gay men like country music?” “Okay, they are officially screwing with us.”
A Dream Within a Dream
It’s difficult to state why this show is such an absolute must-see without giving away too much of what makes it so special. A Dream Within a Dream is an ode to all things Edgar Allan Poe. However, rather than force people to idly sit through a 60-minute play, the show’s creators have put together […]
Rock Bottom [A Rock Opus]
The bass player’s hands are wracked with eczema. The lead singer belongs to a religion apparently designed for fourth-graders, and the guitarist wears a ridiculous moustache. And the drummer – lanky, wild-eyed and prone to sudden violence – sits on a pile of secrets so combustible they could reignite Chernobyl.
Roman Polanski’s film: Venus in Fur
Never mess with a goddess. That’s the lesson of Venus in Fur, director Roman Polanski’s frisky and taut film adaptation of the 2010 play by David Ives that brought kink back to Broadway way before Kinky Boots.
Four Dogs and a Bone
A more apt title for the production of John Patrick Shanley’s satire Four Dogs and a Bone at this year’s Capital Fringe would be Three Flails and some Oomph. This four character, four scene piece can be summed up in two words: mostly meh.
Olizzia
“You go home with a stack of books, I go home with a suitcase full of empty condom wrappers,” quips Lizzie (Stacy Mathison) to Olivia (Alex Johnson), and no scene or snippet of dialogue in Olizzia better describes their relationship. It’s the classic pairing of bed-ready beauty and girl-next-door geek, with a twist: these two […]
The Fever, a Fringe Peek at why the show may not be for you
The Fever was written and first performed by Wallace Shawn. (probably most recognized for his role as Vizzini in The Princess Bride; you know, the gnomey guy who said “inconceivable” all the time) He first performed the monologue in the Manhattan living rooms of his affluent friends as a challenge to their (and his) comfortable lives […]