I love Fringe. And like many theatergoers, I head off each day with tolerance and hope. The tolerance is for shows that are long on ambition, and the hope is for something more. Imagine my surprise at finding that hope fulfilled on my second day of reviewing. Ravelle Brickman reviews for DC Metro Theater Arts
This Too Comes By Hard (Capital Fringe review)
No way around it, this is a dark, harsh, and gritty domestic drama. For some, it may be too dark, too harsh, too gritty, perhaps a partner violence trigger. A fun, frothy, feel-good frolic this show is decidedly not. But it’s got a riveting story structure, creditable acting and direction, and cutting, high-tension dialogue that […]
MacBheatha (Capital Fringe review)
Alana Wiljanen made a good choice in calling her group’s co-created Shakespeare adaptation MacBheatha, instead of the more famous Macbeth, Shakespeare’s sordid tale of a Scotsman murdering his way to power. Her scrappy bunch of (mostly) University of Richmond students dissolve the classic into its atomic parts then reconstitute it into something new. What this […]
Return to the Scene of the Crime (Capital Fringe review)
An autobiographical one-man show about performing a different autobiographical one-man show? It sounds like the ultimate Fringe Festival cliché. But despite its conceit, David Kleinberg’s Return to the Scene of the Crime is a sincere and moving, if sprawling and unwieldy, show which embodies a totally different Fringe cliché: the diamond in the rough.
The Dream Dancer (Capital Fringe review)
Magical realism meets morality play with a dash of sideshow in The Dream Dancer, an entrancing journey through time at this year’s Fringe. If magic, hypnosis, and feminism tickle your fancy, then this play is a great way to spend your evening!
Mr. Taken (Capital Fringe review)
Watching a great sex comedy provides some of the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Watching a bad sex comedy is painfully awkward and embarrassing. The creative team behind Mr. Taken has given us something that sits solidly between those two extremes. There are things to like about this show, but, while not cringe-inducing, […]
Just Like A Woman (Capital Fringe review)
The tagline for Larry E. Blossom’s latest Capital Fringe offering, Just Like A Woman, is “Will Trans Trump Fear in These Troubled Times?” Unfortunately, neither the issues of transphobia nor the effects that Trump’s election has had on America are examined in this convoluted production by Out-Side the Box Theatre. Instead, the underbaked play leans […]
8 Bit Circus Sh*t (Capital Fringe review)
8 Bit Circus Sh*t’s two acts are almost as different as fire and ice. Both are video game-inspired displays of fire circus tricks, but vary greatly in excitement and accessibility.
J-Swizzle’s (& D-Man’s) Epic Awesome Swaggy Broventure for Sweet Rhymes (Capital Fringe Review
Ah, to be thirteen again- the age full of equal parts hubris and insecurity. Such are the epic struggles of two teenage would-be rappers in this funny new piece by Emma Choi, herself a senior at George C Marshall High School. But don’t let the playwright’s youth dissuade you from coming to see this show; […]
Ghouls (Capital Fringe review)
There is a moment in Sean Surla’s one-woman piece, Ghouls, (playing at the Atlas Performing Arts Center through July 16) where Emel Haddad – Surla’s stand-in for herself, and an extraordinarily generous actress – describes driving to the top of Pike’s Peak with her family. Along the way, before the very top, she wants her […]
Not Quite: Asian American by Law, Asian Woman by Desire (Capital Fringe review)
Stop reading this review, click this hyperlink, buy a ticket, and see it. Don’t want to go alone? I’ll see it with you. We’ve never met before? Who cares. I’m your new best friend for life Mike Bevel and we will make this happen. Mike Bevel reviews for DC Metro Theater Arts
Life, Death, & Everything In-Between (Capital Fringe review)
Large swatches of fabric move time forward or weave through space. The bold colors catch the eye. Confrontational dialogue sets characters in opposition while bodies remain static or surge forward with pedestrian-like purpose. We hear familiar phrases and grasp for a glimpse of a connection, but it is momentary and fleeting. Jane Franklin reviews for […]