Reviews for The Stage Performances
Review: The Game's Afoot by The Stage, Austin
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 26, 2026
Despite the gleeful handfuls of red herrings, in The Game's Afoot you may guess who's responsible for the murder. But it's more likely you'll simply be enjoying the antics and the farce.
Playwright Ken Ludwig is prolific, clever, and widely admired, both in the bigger drama houses across the nation and in community theatres. The man currently has thirty-four scripts to his credit, an impressive number; even more impressive is his near-ubiquity in the U.S. theatre landscape. Perhaps you know that he crafted the popular adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, a version of which recently played at Austin's Zach Theatre; you probably aren't aware that …
Review: The Real Inspector Hound by The Stage, Austin
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on July 28, 2023
Hamlet declared, “The play’s the thing,” but in The Stage’s production of THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND, we are duly reminded that in fact the actors are the thing that makes the play.
Who is the real Inspector Hound? For that matter who is Tom Stoppard? Or more to the point, does Tom Stoppard hate critics? Furthermore, what does it mean to be a critic criticizing a play that criticizes critics? And what, really, is a red herring? If Stoppard’s writing style is an absurd reflection of the absurd qualities of life, doesn’t that naturally make him a naturalistic writer? Finally, if a red herring is a misleading …