Reviews for The Vortex Performances
Review: Spirit by The Vortex Repertory Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 13, 2014
Spirit is that which connects the forces of earth, air, fire, and water. And at Vortex Theater in East Austin, Spirit is the culmination of a performance suite of shows with the titles of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water—the Elementals performances, created by Vortex Repertory Company and producing artistic director Bonnie Cullum. And what is Spirit the show? One good answer: it's a collection of excellent performances by the Vortex’s stable of highly talented actors, dancers, singers, and musicians. The show …
Review: For Fear the Glass May Shatter by The Vortex Repertory Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 26, 2014
For Fear the Glass May Shatter is an opera about physics. Stop right there, don’t leave! The first impression of this show directed by Bonnie Cullum at the Vortex is its high accessibility, quite surprising. Everyone must agree that an opera about physics is a refreshing change from yet another revival of a shallow canonical tale about violent European teenagers in love. I must back up. The opera is indeed set in Europe (and America), and …
Review: Stars and Barmen by Vortex Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 06, 2013
Watching these ineptitudes and witnessingTrey Deason's presentation of grad student Rupert as a quivering, clownish loser, I began to sense that Hardy's idea of comedy didn't correspond very much with my own.
I was in the mood for a a feel-good experience on Halloween, something without fangs or fishnets or pumpkins, and the Vortex's blurb 'a romantic comedy about getting lucky in space time' enticed me to their staging of Reina Hardy's script. She is semi-local, after all, as a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas, and the Shrewds staged her piece Glassheart not too long ago. The Vortex, bless Bonnie's heart, has succeeded in transforming itself from a …
Review: Water by Vortex Repertory Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 09, 2012
Anderson Dear is perhaps the Vortex’s boldest singing and performing talent, and she has provided the absolute peak of many Vortex shows with her powerful, clear tones that have never needed amplification.
I bought my ticket and sat in the outside coffee bar, The Butterfly Bar, at the Vortex before seating was called. Late summer concerns seemed to run forcefully to West Nile virus in Texas, as every mode of mosquito repulsion was in full application on the deck as the Saturday night crowd assembled. Inside, these cares buzzed away forever with the first glimpse of the set. Upstage center a waterfall fell like liquid plate …
Review: Lear (adapted) by Vortex Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 05, 2011
This Lear and Ramirez's approach oblige me to acknowledge a divide that I dislike: that between my own twentieth-century cultural consciousness, rooted in reading and narrative text, and the peculiar twenty-first century media mind of contemporary America.
Shakespeare's great tragedy is a fable that dares portray in resounding verse some of mankind's most common but most harrowing issues. The tyranny of the selfish old, set against the arrogance of the selfish young; the toxic dissolution of family ties and family hierarchy; the horror of ageing and senescence; the inevitability of human downfall; ambition, evil, and the sacrifice of innocents. These huge and inescapable issues are rooted in the human condition. We …
Review: Lear (adapted) by Vortex Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 22, 2011
Lear's rage against the storm is converted into a confused confrontation with paparazzi, and key narration is projected as sound-bites from MSNBC-style talking heads, proving that style can defeat substance.
Short take: The Vortex version of Lear features several accomplished Austin actors, including most notably Jennifer Underwood in the title role, but director Rudy Ramirez trivializes Shakespeare's great epic of royal folly and delusion. Lear's rage against the storm is converted into a confused confrontation with paparazzi, and key narration is projected as sound-bites from MSNBC-style talking heads, proving that style can defeat substance. Cross-gender casting for the roles of Kent and Edda (Edgar) is puzzling; less …