Reviews for Breaking String Theater Performances
Review: Vodka, Fucking and Television by Breaking String Theater
by David Glen Robinson
Published on December 03, 2012
Of greatest enjoyment in Jude Hickey’s performance is his teaming with Joey Hood as Vodka. Together, they acted as a kind of Bobbsey Twins of temptation.
This play, written in 2003, may reach an apex in the new generation of Russian plays. Breaking String Theater Company is getting used to this Russian art explosion, having produced a number of Russian plays in translation, and producing this extremely well written comedy with an exceptional ensemble of some of Austin’s most talented actors. Liz Fisher directs Vodka, Fucking and Television for Breaking String. The only speed bump in the raceway to success for this …
Review: The Schooling of Bento Bonchev by Breaking String Theater
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 22, 2012
Kurochkin's piece is an assemblage of trivialities, but I'm the first to suggest that my reaction might be because I'm closer to the disabused age and attitude of Frank the TV celebrity than to that of the trim and devoted young members of the cast.
A style begins to manifest itself in Graham Schmidt's staging of contemporary Russian drama, distinct from his graceful voyages through Chekhov. As in last year's Flying by Olga Mukhina, The Schooling of Bento Bonchev by Maxsym Kurochkin features an ensemble of attractive young persons. Schmidt and choreographer/fightmaster Sergio Alvarado move them smartly about Ia Ensterä's starkly functional set at a lively, balletic pace. Props are minimal and suggestive -- for example, some bicycles are suggested solely by front …
Review: Uncle Vanya by Breaking String Theater
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on June 20, 2011
Yet, a lively and direct translation is just one of the few things this production has to offer. The set design and the lighting are bewitching. Breaking String transforms the austere confines of the Off Center into a virtual diorama of the life of the Russian nobility of the 1890’s.
The Tragedy of the Individual “Why am I old?” shouts Uncle Vanya about mid-way through the play bearing his name. He doesn’t ask anyone in particular and he doesn’t expect an answer. It is a statement, a question, an interjection as well as a plea. Perhaps he’s speaking to himself, perhaps to his family and perhaps to God. He is forlorn, lost, meandering and, at best, seeking answers to questions he’s always wanted to …
Review: Flying by Breaking String Theater
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 01, 2011
Mukhina, Schmidt and this talented company create a terrific, terrible and hypnotic spectacle for us. Flying is an experience not to be missed.
Olga Mukhina’s Flying is a fast, dangerous and exhilarating ride. Graham Schmidt and Breaking String Theatre put audiences up close to the beautiful youth of post-Soviet Russia in this 2004 piece. Olga Mukhin was one of those who originated the “New Drama” that came raging into Russia's mid-1990’s. Flying plays until February 19 at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street (behind Joe’s Bakery on 7th Street). This is the North American premiere. Heedless, hedonistic and rootless, a gang of six …
Review: The Cherry Orchard by Breaking String Theater
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 06, 2009
Director Graham Schmidt has made canny matches between Chekhov's vivid characters and the Austin acting talent happily available to him.
What is this quiet exhilaration I feel in the presence of Chekhov? Especially when the piece is as well played as this one?For opening night at the Blue Theatre many of the seats were taken by young persons who might well have been undergraduates. Directly opposite me, across the three-quarter thrust of the playing space, one or two had spiral notebooks and pencils in hand. I cannot recall if the vision of this end-of-the-19th-century Russian physician …