Oct 02

Rebel Theatre Without Activism is as Pointless as Sending Thoughts and Prayers After a Tragedy: “The Plough and The Stars”

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Kitty Drexel

Presented by A.R.T.*
Abbey Theatre on Tour in association with Cusack Projects Limited
Written by Sean O’Casey
Directed by Sean Holmes
Voice direction by Andrea Ainsworth

Loeb Drama Center
Cambridge, MA
ART on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

Trigger warnings: gun fire, siren and other loud effects, punk rock

(Cambridge, MA) Ladies and gentlemen, Unions are legal and necessary. Unions are one of the only protections low to middle income wage earners have against power-hungry suits with no regard for struggles that aren’t their own. Please support your local unions to ensure that they remain strong, honest, and transparent. Continue reading →

Jan 21

Gritty Art: THE DEVIL’S MUSIC – THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH

Posted on January 21, 2014 by craigidlebrook

Photo by John Quilty.

Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
By Angelo Parra
Concept, Musical Staging, and Direction by Joe Brancato

January 9^th – February 2^nd, 2014
Lowell, MA
MRT on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lowell) Do you know the blues? I mean really know the blues?

I’m not talking about some wannabe pop singer appropriating the blues to make the crowd gasp on American Idol. I’m not talking about the rock n’ roll hybrid blues that the Rolling Stones used to distance themselves from the Beatles. I’m talking the unsanitized blues, rife with onion-skin-thin innuendo about graphic sex and domestic violence. It’s raw and splintered music, the kind where you can taste hunger and oppression and yet you laugh so you don’t cry. Continue reading →