Reviews for The Baron's Men Performances
Review: Romeo and Juliet by The Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 20, 2014
Romeo and Juliet is probably the first work of Shakespeare that most of us encounter, and sometimes it's the only one. That story of two star-crossed lovers is the most likely opportunity to interest distracted adolescents in the work of the 'Bard.' Pedagogically it's pretty effective: Two impetuous and self-centered teenagers flout convention and through a series of mishaps and misapprehensions end their lives in a creepy crypt, desperately disappointed. What's not to like, kids? Maybe …
Review: Romeo and Juliet by The Baron's Men
by Casey Weed
Published on April 06, 2014
The Baron's Men finally put up Romeo and Juliet and I was in the rare position last evening of being in the audience with no other stake in the show than simply hoping for an entertaining performance. I was rewarded with much more than that. So often in Austin we're subjected to fussified Shakespeare tarted up with gimmick props and political or social agendas that cloud up the plot and characters and make the pure play indiscernible …
Review: The Spanish Tragedie by Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 20, 2013
The murder is only the principal plot line. Other plots, murders and counter-murders keep things hopping, all the while apparently escaping the attention of the jolly Spanish king and his counterpart the comically neurotic Portuguese viceroy.
Villainy was afoot and revenge was hot at the tidy Elizabethan-style Curtain Theatre on opening weekend, but Karen insisted that I bundle up as if I was going hiking in the winter mountains. And she was right; the temp must have sunk to around 50 F. by the time C. Robert Stevens as Hieronimo had coaxed the malefactors at the Spanish court into the play-within-a-play that's the climax of The Spanish Tragedie. This costume drama …
Review: Henry V by Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 08, 2011
Brian Martin in the title role has the self confidence, presence and the big articulate voice of a fighting king.
This Henry V by The Baron's Men is a feast for the eyes. The elaborate Elizabethan wardrobe of the company goes well with the gratifying outdoor setting of the Curtain Theatre, Richard Garriott's lakeside replica in miniature of the Globe. Costume designers Pam Martin and Dawn Allee are current nominees along with Jennifer Davis for Austin's B. Iden Payne stage award for outstanding costume design, for this company's 2010 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. For Henry V they've outdone even that …
Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream by Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 11, 2010
This is an evening to be enjoyed and remembered, one of clever, lively action, beautiful players and knockabout clowns, exquisite renaissance music, masques and costume.
A Midsummer Night's Dream may well be Shakespeare's most familiar comedy. In his review of Austin theatre for the World Theatre Day celebration last April Robert Faires noted it as one of those plays that "circle round again and again like pop songs in heavy rotation." You have to admit it: he's right. The Tex-Arts youth program did the show ten days before his remarks, then Austin Shakespeare did it in Zilker Park with 1960's style …
Review: The Tempest by The Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 07, 2009
The light wanes, the river quiets, and the lighting shifts. Torches around the playing space and discreet amber lighting from high above convert the meadow into Prospero's domain.
The energy and the innovative staging of The Tempest by the Baron's Men go a long way toward overcoming the considerable disadvantages of their "green world" theatre."Castleton" lies in a narrow meadow along the lake, just west of the 360 bridge, and owner Richard Garriott has furnished it with quaint cabins, fancifully decorated. It reminded me very much of the "cabin camping" practiced in Scandinavia, where a family leases a tiny dwelling instead of pitching a tent.The …