Recent Reviews
Review: The Society for Hard Determinists by Twin Alchemy Collective
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 24, 2014
Trust. Trust is essential. Trust is fundamental to theatre art. We the audience come to the appointed place and time, trusting the actors with our attention and our time; company and audience understand the unwritten rules of the playing space. We depart trusting one another on a journey of defined duration, even consenting to turn off our cell phones and other noise-making devices so that, like airline passengers, we're locked away in a shared reality …
Review: Arden of Faversham by Hidden Room Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 22, 2014
Who knew that dusty old unperformed plays could be such fun? The Hidden Room, that admirable project of Beth Burns, is devoting three weekends to bringing back to life Elizabethan scripts that may -- or may not -- have had William Shakespeare as an unacknowledged collaborator (mind you, almost everyone was uncredited in the theatre of the day). Scholars have attributed 37 works to the Bard, and there's always speculation about more. These are not …
Review: Blithe Spirit by Fredericksburg Theater Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 21, 2014
The very first sight of the set for the Fredericksburg Theater Company production of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit illustrates a familiar and gratifying aspect of many a community theatre, including the Wimberley Players, the Gaslight Baker Theatre in Lockhart and the Sam Bass Theatre in Round Rock. Perhaps this care comes from an awareness of being away from the usual metropolitan art centers; perhaps it's a determination to show the world that 'community' doesn't mean 'common' or 'shabby.' Kerry …
Review: The Tempest by Present Company Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 19, 2014
Below and all about the looming presence of the monumental set by the wonderfully imaginative Ia Ensterä there's a tribal intensity in Present Company's rendering of The Tempest. Structures are cleverly clad with discarded shipping pallets and decorated with bric-a-brac. The spectacle is augmented by the washes and color shifts of Christina Barboza's lighting design, no mean accomplishments in an outdoor setting that's really a farmyard. Before the action commences, the audience is treated to …
Review: A Bright New Boise by Hyde Park Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 18, 2014
You might suppose that Samuel Hunter's 2010 play A Bright New Boise is a satire about empty-eyed religion in the upper Midwest and the Oklahoma plains where Hobby Lobby is headquartered. Indeed, you could move the pieces around to build a case for that -- all the more so, considering that in June of this year the Supreme Court accepted the contention of Hobby Lobby and similar businesses that the owner-managers' religious convictions justified limiting …
Review: Time Stands Still by Austin Playhouse
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 15, 2014
I don't watch television. I don't have cable TV service in the house, and I especially avoid television news. Even when the editors strive for balance in face of controversy, TV reporting makes you stupid. Most of it is essentially entertainment, so the programmers can't resist lurid exploitation of violence and catastrophe. That's what the public wants and has wanted since the days of Aristotle: stories that arouse pity and fear. So you'll understand my …