Recent Reviews
Review: Cock by Theatre en Bloc
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 06, 2014
Director Derek Kolluri and the four equally gifted members of this cast prove to us how perilously close are the arcs between sentimental comedy and tragedy. Cock is a powerful piece, one that will wring you out over the hundred minutes of fierce emotional fighting that takes place inside the chalk circle at the Off Center. Playwright Mike Bartlett's provocative title Cock is a cheap come-on, not worthy of the depth of feeling and the …
Review: Love and Information by St. Edward's University
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 04, 2014
Information is not knowledge. Even less is it wisdom. And in our popular consciousness, increasingly fragmented by the synapse-candy of sound bites, blurbs, ads, Tweets and Facebook postings, random information thrown at us typically constitutes an accumulation of meaningless trivia. I went looking for an author's statement or a thoughtful analysis of Caryl Churchill's 2012 play Love and Information, staged in the United States for the first time in February of this year, but I …
Review: The King and I by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 24, 2014
The first and probably unnecessary point to make is that this opulent evening is not the place to go for authenticity. The Zach Theatre has of course gone to great lengths to provide us with an Asian experience, and it's an enchanting one. It's not a historic document, however, and The King and I on the stage at the Topfer Theatre is really a fantasy about the guardedly cordial meeting of East and West. Freely …
Review: Now Then Again by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 23, 2014
We all like ‘What if?’ That’s really the essence of theatrical art, isn’t it? In simplest terms, we gather to witness the presentation of a story. No, it’s not real. . . but what if it were? A romantic comedy, say — where the protagonist is a brilliant theoretical physicist who’s incredibly shy and socially inept, and he meets this incredibly gifted woman, an undergraduate intern who somehow has gotten a summer assignment to this …
Review: Land of the Weird by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 18, 2014
The gang over at Bottle Alley Theatre Company is finishing up their second season, already very diverse, with some good fun. With support from mainstay Chris Fontanes, they took on a puppet project. This is a new art form for all of them, and they benefited from a couple of sessions with Connor Hopkins, Austin's own emperor of animated objects. Bottle Alley has to scrape, cadge and liberate for venues and material, facing the same …
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, …