Recent Reviews
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: A Streetcar Straight to Hell by Exchange Artists
by David Glen Robinson
Published on November 01, 2013
All the actors showed great skill in operating the set, the props, their costumes, and themselves. When actors make the difficult look easy, then the outcomes of their actions are surprising rather than predictable.
For this Halloween edition of The Exchange Artists’ Hot Nights series, they changed the name to Hot Bloody Nights. Other key elements remained the same, including the typically high performing skills exhibited on-stage, teaming up with a musical group, location in an upscale watering hole, a one-night-only run, and creativity unbounded. The Exchange Artists haven’t missed a beat with this series since they started it more than a year ago. The show was based loosely, repeat loosely, …
Review: Innocent When You Dream by Zeb L. West
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 27, 2013
West merged the stories of Don Quixote and Moby Dick into a lament for all lives and relationships gone wrong. Yes, this show was about love and loss.
Innocent When You Dream just shrieks festival piece—simple set design, simple-looking props, simply costumed performer sleeping and dreaming on-stage as the house opens. All these things have to be in place and removed quickly in a sequence of similar performance pieces performed in one evening. Then all of it has to be crated up and shipped to the next festival. After the curtain call, Zeb West, the creator and performer of Innocent When You Dream thanked his Kickstarter contributors …
Review: The Rocky Horror Show 2013 by Woodlawn Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 20, 2013
The Rocky Horror Show is a sweet little pop fable about the loss of innocence, a glimpse into pleasures conventionally banned or hidden, and an emotional release in pounding rhythm.
There must be something in the water down there in San Antonio. Right now San Antonio has not one but two stage versions of The Rocky Horror Show running. The Cameo Theatre staging by J. Pennington Studios plays through next weekend, and Greg Hinojosa's exuberant production at the Woodlawn, to which I was invited last Thursday, plays until November 2. The large and enthusiastic cast at the Woodlawn appears Thursdays at 8 p.m. and then Fridays and Saturdays at 11 p.m. after …
Review: The Spanish Tragedie by Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 20, 2013
The murder is only the principal plot line. Other plots, murders and counter-murders keep things hopping, all the while apparently escaping the attention of the jolly Spanish king and his counterpart the comically neurotic Portuguese viceroy.
Villainy was afoot and revenge was hot at the tidy Elizabethan-style Curtain Theatre on opening weekend, but Karen insisted that I bundle up as if I was going hiking in the winter mountains. And she was right; the temp must have sunk to around 50 F. by the time C. Robert Stevens as Hieronimo had coaxed the malefactors at the Spanish court into the play-within-a-play that's the climax of The Spanish Tragedie. This costume drama …
Review: The Beautiful People by Steven Wilson
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 19, 2013
Director Steven Wilson has elicited a deeper sense from the story, one that's perhaps more in keeping with our modern sensibilities. As Atkinson comments, Saroyan is no Pinero, no devotee of the 'well-made play'; and in our jagged world, that's fine with us.
Don't let this gem flicker past you. Saroyan's gentle, quizzical one-act from 1941 isn't well known, and you're not likely to get the opportunity to enjoy it ever again. MFA candidate in directing Steven Wilson has magicked forth this evening with some powerful help, and it's a revelation of theatre and acting craft nestled within a revival. You'll see nothing like it anytime soon. In Austin terms it's as if Norman Blumensaadt's devoted exploration …