There’s an old logic puzzle about a farmer trying to get a wolf, a chicken, and a pile of corn across the river, but the farmer can only take two at a time in his boat. Leaving the wrong combination of items alone will end in something getting eaten. So in what order does he […]
Archives for July 14, 2018
Review: Theatre Du Jour’s The Accidental Pilgrim for Capital Fringe
If any play is a complete 180º polar opposite of the safe suburban outdoor Shakespeare I reviewed most recently, it is certainly B. Stanley and company’s inscrutable, frustrating, and nearly successful devised piece The Accidental Pilgrim at DCAC, a satellite production of the 2018 Capital Fringe Festival.
Review: 1 2 3 a play about abandonment and ballroom dancing at Capital Fringe
Once there was a couple that so loved peace and justice that they would blow up buildings and kill people on its behalf. After that, they would move to another town, changing their identities and those of their children, so they could love peace and justice some more. And again, until eventually they got caught.
Review: Spook at Capital Fringe Festival
I am not equipped to write this review. That much was apparent from the moment I saw Daryl “Spook” Spokane (Meshaun Labrone) stoically reclining on the day of his execution in Spook, a play written and performed by Labrone himself.
Review: Deadlie Affairs: Arden of Faversham at Capital Fringe
Has our obsession with true crime always been with us? In 1551, Alice Arden and her lover arranged the murder of Alice’s husband, Lord Arden of Faversham. In 1592 this true crime sensation was portrayed in a play, Arden of Faversham (believed to have been written by multiple authors including, some argue, Shakespeare). “Arden of […]
Review: Lesbians and the Men Who Love Them at Capital Fringe
Sometimes the identities we construct for ourselves become our prisons. This is the scenario playwright M. Cristina Garcia uses as the central conceit of her play, Lesbians and the Men Who Love Them, having its world premiere at this year’s Capital Fringe Festival. Garcia packs a lot into this dramedy—perhaps too much, as we jump […]
Review: F*ck Tinder: a love story at Capital Fringe
In two years, David Rodwin went out with 120 women. Evidently, that changes a man. F*ck Tinder, Rodwin’s solo show on his dating life, ranges from deep vulnerability to unrestrained boasting; it’s a wild time, good enough at least for a first date.
Review: The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War at Capital Fringe
Some of the best theatre presents you with an impossible choice and asks what decision you would make in each character’s place. In the case of 2000FeetUp Theatre Company’s The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War, that heartbreaking conundrum is whether to give birth to a child, conceived as the […]
Review: Holon! at Capital Fringe
A holon, coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967), is philosophical term for something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. For example, Holon! is one whole dance performance that is also one of Capital Fringe 2018’s eleven dance & physical theatre shows. So, that’s two strikes towards […]
Review: Tweet Land of Liberty at Capital Fringe
We Americans now find ourselves deep into the presidency of Donald Trump. Whatever opinions one may have on his policies, it’s tough to deny that Donnie’s personality is ripe for satire. Furthermore, living in and around the capital guarantees being spectator to some ribbing at the Commander in Chief and his administration.
Review: Tales of the Mysterious and Grotesque: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe at Capital Fringe
There are numerous themes to Edgar Allan Poe’s body of work: Perverse, mysterious, grotesque, and merry. Coincidentally, those are the names of the characters for this compilation of scenes intended to reflect Poe’s work. That is about the last recognizable things which ties these characters to Poe.