The Boston theatre community was rocked to its core this spring following a Facebook posting by a 26-year old actor. In this post, the young man recounts in vivid and unsettling detail how, as a 20-year old college theatre major in 2012, he was on a late night bus back from a theatre trip to […]
We Happy Few’s Pericles is a wild ride
One block west of the main drag through Eastern Market, in the cozy Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, the aptly named troupe We Happy Few has an amusing, engaging winner of a show with their take on Shakespeare’s underappreciated action adventure comedy Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
Review: Olney’s Invisible Hand packs a mighty punch
An American banker abducted by jihadists in Pakistan must earn his $10 million ransom by making a killing on the market. And as he introduces concepts of high finance to his kidnappers – some concepts that tanked the US economy a decade ago – the term ‘making a killing’ becomes both figurative and literal in […]
Review: Constellation’s Caucasian Chalk Circle hits its mark
Powerhouse director Allison Stockman and her powerhouse resident designer A.J. Guban have created yet another minor miracle of transformation at the Source. As the 14th/U neighborhood around them becomes increasingly unrecognizable, it’s very comforting that this constant remains.
Review: Landless’ symphonic metal version of Mystery of Edwin Drood
When I last encountered Landless — full disclosure, I performed with the group in a 2006 production — they seemed to delight in being charmingly slapdash and a bit ramshackle in their approach. Like rock n’ roll, the mess and lack of polish is the point, right? And it’s still the case now in their, […]
Review: Cabaret Noir by Happenstance
Take a tip from me. If your jones for hard-nosed detectives, shady nighttime dealings on foggy piers, dive bars serving bathtub gin, torch songs, sassy dames and the like can’t be satiated by WAMU’s The Big Broadcast, head on over to Joe’s Movement Emporium, they got ‘em by the truckload. Tell ‘em Johnny sent you […]
The Winter’s Tale at Chesapeake Shakespeare (review)
The earliest recorded reference to The Winter’s Tale is a 1611 performance at the Globe. Letting my romanticism momentarily override my scholasticism, I find so many elements of the play that echo Shakespeare’s own later life. If it was indeed written around 1611, it would mark 14-15 years (not 16, alas that would be just too […]
Hobson’s Choice at Quotidian Theatre (review)
It may seem an odd choice at first for Quotidian to revive a century-old comedy of manners in an era of #metoo. Happily, though he’s no George Bernard Shaw (that’s OK, I’m no Ben Brantley), Harold Brighouse’s 1915 comedy Hobson’s Choice is, for its time, a savvy study of gender and class politics of the […]
Fiddler on the Roof at Compass Rose Theater (review)
I feel a bit like Tevye looking to the heavens for assistance. I just saw a very earnest but uneven production of Fiddler on the Roof over in Annapolis, and I could use a little guidance from above as how to navigate the thicket of the three-star review, respecting the artists and their efforts without […]
Great Shakes: Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will at Round House (review)
Imagine a world without Macbeth, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew or Julius Caesar. Before the publishing of Shakespeare’s anthologized plays in Folio format in 1623, these plays and many others had never appeared in print. Once the actors who originated these roles – and then anyone who remembered seeing them – had […]
Review: A masterful Misterman at Solas Nua
I emerged Saturday night from the Dance Loft on 14th certain of several things. Firstly, that one of the most dangerous things in the world is a young, isolated, ideology-obsessed male. Secondly, that it’s a very good thing for DC that Solas Nua is producing theatre again. Thirdly, that Thomas Keegan is one hell of […]
Sara Barker Defends Her Life This Afternoon Over Sushi
My sit-down with DC actor Sara Barker was delayed slightly as I had to field a call from my financial planner about some issue with retirement accounts. As I finally sat down to our late afternoon lunch in a Pentagon Row sushi bar, I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Financial planner? Retirement accounts? Good God, what […]