Oct 02

The Limits of Pretend: A BROTH OF A BOY

Posted on October 2, 2012 by craigidlebrook

Directed by Richard Smithies
Cead Mile Failte Productions
Arsenal Center for the Arts
in Black Box Theater
Watertown, MA
September 25th – October 7th, 2012
A Broth of a Boy Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Watertown) A one-person production can be an all-or-nothing proposition for theater going audiences. At its best, it can break the limits of human expression; at its worst, it can feel like watching someone tell a terrible joke at a party. Danny Venezia’s production of Broth of a Boy is best avoided unless you are a true lover of Irish history, for it never allows an audience to suspend disbelief that the show is anything but a lone man trying hard for us to believe in what he is seeing. Continue reading →

Apr 08

Community amidst Hostility: THE TEMPERMENTALS

Posted on April 8, 2012 by craigidlebrook

Steve Kidd, Will McGarrahan, Victor L. Shopov, & Shelley Bolman in The Temperamentals. Photo by Mark S. Howard

The Tempermentals by Jon Marans, Lyric Stage Company, 3/30/12-4/28/12, https://lyricstage.com/

main_stage/the_temperamentals/.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

The oppressed can’t name their condition without fear of reprisal. They can’t gather together. They can’t escape their condition in the traditional refuges of family, community, friendship and sex. Imagine trying to create change swimming against such a tide. Continue reading →