New Play at Salem Theatre Company
Here’s what’s happening this week (I do not know the quality of the productions since I have been out of town, but find something you might enjoy and go see some theatre this weekend!)
Boston Metro Boston Outer Points Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut Next to Normal Tour
Photo: Joan Marcus
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, The Golden Theatre, Broadway, 4/27/11-7/10/11. http://www.thenormalheartbroadway.com/. Winner of Tony Award for Best Revival, Best Featured Actress, and Best Featured Actor.
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
WH Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939” (from which the title of the play is derived) states that “no one exists alone”. That statement reaches to the heart of the AIDS movement as we acknowledge the thirtieth anniversary of the first diagnosed case and continue to strive for full equality for every human being. Larry Kramer’s revolutionary play not only remains wholly relevant since its original production in 1985, but also challenges us to see that we have not gone far enough and there is still much work to be done. The cast shows that the only way we’re going to get through all the struggles is together. Continue reading
McCaela Donovan and members of the company in a scene from the SpeakEasy Stage Company production of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, running May 6 - June 5 at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End. Tix/Info: 617-933-8600 or www.SpeakEasyStage.com. Photo: Stratton McCrady.
Since my students are graduating this week and then I’m off to New York, here’s one more week of what’s happening around this area. When I am back, I will share my reviews of the shows I’ve seen in New York; also, I hope to have articles for you on my obsession with Next to Normal and the Opera 101 piece that I have been planning. (unless otherwise noted (POE @trinityrep), I do not know the quality of the productions, but find something you might enjoy and go see some theatre this weekend!)
Boston Metro Boston Rhode Island Connecticut Next to Normal Tour
Learn To Be Latina, Company One/Boston Playwrights Theatre, Maureen Adduci (Jill), Crystal Lisbon (Mary), Shawna O'Brien (Hanan),Rory Kulz (Bill)
While I am busy helping my students finish out the year, here are some listings for this week (unless otherwise noted, I do not know the quality of the productions, but find something you might enjoy and go see some theatre this weekend!)
Animal Crackers, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA 02116
May 6-Jun 4
Tickets by Phone: 617-585-5678
Antony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, 4/27/11-5/21/11. http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/season7/antony_cleo.html.
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
Photo by Stratton McCrady
Actors’ Shakespeare Project continues to bring intelligible Shakespeare to Boston. One of Shakespeare’s most complicated plots of politics and passion, Antony and Cleopatra can leave Shakespeare neophytes confused and questioning. This production provides a clear path for understanding and appreciation of the text.
The backdrop, designed by Jeff Adelberg, looks like a collection of mattress coils that make up a wall. This suggestive detail reflects Antony’s decision-making processes. Antony is caught up in his love and does not recognize the ever-present threat of his fellow triumvirate colleague, Octavius. Octavius uses Antony’s distraction to destroy the triumvirate and become emperor of Rome. Continue reading
Adam Lauver as Lord of the Underworld, Annie Winneg as Eurydice, and the chorus of stones. Photo by Rob Lorino.
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, The Independent Drama Society, BCA Black Box, 4/22/11-4/30/11. http://sites.google.com/site/independentdrama/
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
The circus is in town and it is a beautiful tragedy. The Independent Drama Society’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice evokes an abstract piece of shattered but connected moments. Remaining faithful to the myth, Lindsay Eagle allows the audience to experience every breath of innocence, knowledge, and loss that the play has to offer.
The Greek chorus of stones consists of a highly skilled clowning troupe. Upon entrance to the theatre, the audience is greeted by the members of the chorus as they play and perform. Each member has a distinct personality that interacts in different ways between the audience and the main characters of the play.
Annie Winneg as Eurydice and Greg Nussen as Orpheus play the doomed young lovers who believe that love is all they need. Although they do truly care for each other, they have difficulty communicating with each other or having any level of depth to their relationship, which leads to Eurydice’s struggle between her love for her husband and her love for her father. Continue reading
Frances Idlebrook as Grace, Jesse Tolbert as Buddy, Steve Barkhimer as Vet
The Book of Grace by Suzan-Lori Parks, Company One, 4/15/11-5/7/11. Mature themes and language, sexual content, and stage violence. http://www.companyone.org/
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
What is the cost of forgiveness and reconciliation? What is the real threat? Company One’s production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Book of Grace explores these questions through an intimate scene between three connected, yet separate, individuals.
Vet, played by Steve Barkhimer, likes a rigid, controlled environment both at his job (as a border control officer) and in his home life. Grace, Continue reading
Dafydd ap Rees (Mick Ross) and Allyn Burrows (Alan Turing) in Hugh Whitemore's BREAKING THE CODE through May 8. Presented by Catalyst Collaborative@MIT. Performances at Central Square Theater at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Tickets and Information: http://CentralSquareTheater.org or 866-811-4111. Photo by A.R. Sinclair Photography.
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
Intelligence is a prized commodity that governments and businesses appropriate for their own needs, but don’t always appreciate the ones who provide it. Alan Turing was loved by Great Britain for his decoding work during World War II and was derided for his failure to conform to social norms after the war. Breaking the Code masterfully explores the isolating nature of “polite” society.
Underground Railroad Company and Catalyst Collaborative@MIT bring the audience into the world of Alan Turing’s mind and memory. Performed in the round, the audience literally steps into Janie Howland’s set of inverse geometric spirals as they take their seats. Strings across the walls and ceiling connect formulas and ideas. Following the idea of the spirals, director Adam Zahler has Turing (played by Allyn Burrows) follow these patterns as Turing moves through the various moments of his life. The set and the action become an extension of Alan Turing’s personality. Continue reading
Hysteria, or Fragments of an Analysis of a Obsessional Neurosis by Terry Johnson, The NoraTheatre Company, Central Square Theater, 1/6/11-1/30/11. Nudity and mature themes. http://www.centralsquaretheater.org/season/10-11/hysteria.html
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
Freudian analysis? A dream of Dali? Too much spicy food? These are questions the audience might ask while watching Hysteria. Using the real meeting between Freud and Dali as a starting point, Johnson’s play moves from farce to surrealism to nothingness. The Nora Theatre Company makes this strange journey palatable and pleasurable and masks the flaws of the script.
The exaggerated perspective of the set, Freud’s study, immediately tells the audience that something peculiar is going to happen. As the play unfolds, Janie E. Howland’s surrealistic set design matches the frenetic energy that is sent forth from the actors. No one questions the absurdity of the situations that take place because the cast commit fully to the roles that they play. Richard Sneed, as Freud, tries to hold the world together as it keeps trying to spiral out-of-control. His warm-fatherly nature combined with Freud’s philosophies moves the audience from sympathy for a dying man to anger at an intractable man that will not even admit the possibility that he might have erred. Continue reading
Vengeance is the Lord’s by Bob Glaudini, WORLD PREMIERE, Huntington Theatre Company, 11/12/10-12/12/10. http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/production.aspx?id=8511
Larry Pine (Mathew Horvath) and Karl Baker Olsen (Donald Horvath) in Vengeance Is The Lord's, by Bob Glaudini, directed by Peter DuBois. Photo by T Charles Erickson
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
“Honor thy father and mother” is the first and only commandment in the Horvath family. In Vengeance Is The Lord’s, the Horvath family sticks together, supports each other—in all endeavors—but to what end? The play starts out with a normal family Thanksgiving scene; the father starts by telling about his need to turn someone in who stole a car and the mother talks about forgiveness for Myers, their daughter’s killer. As the story unfolds, however, the veneer is lifted to reveal not only hypocrisy but also an active crime family. The audience and the youngest son Donny begin to question what justice means and how far love and loyalty should extend within a family.
The set by Eugene Lee provides a “gilded cage” for the Horvaths. The house looks like any normal suburban household—with one exception—Cheryl’s room. While it seems like any other bedroom in any other house, this bedroom haunts the Horvath family. Along with the Horvath family, the audience is constantly reminded of the empty room and Cheryl’s horrific murder as the house spins on a turntable. The effect of the turntable mirrors the family’s discontent; when they slow down or stop, the family ends up confronting problems that they would rather ignore. The lighting design by Japhy Weideman, the sound design by Ben Emerson, and the original music by David Van Tieghem add to the tense domestic scene.
The actors form a cohesive family unit. Roberta Wallach stands firm as the matriarch of the Horvath family, Margaret. Wallach creates a woman who lives in pain, but who is strong and relatively self-sufficient; however, as the play progresses and the emotional pain becomes too much to bear, the character gives in to the physical operation. Wallach reveals through this concession that Margaret has deferred some of her resolve to Matthew and Woody. Continue reading
