Recent Reviews
Review: Macbeth by City Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 15, 2013
In the final battle to the death, in the gripping choreography of Nick Lawson with its dramatic finish, Dave Yakubik and Brian Villalobos have the audience flinching, perched on the edge of the seats.
Shakespeare's most frequently performed works have remained vivid and vital for centuries in part because he creates characters caught in life's fundamental, archetypical dilemmas. Young lovers Romeo and Juliet rebel against constraints of family and society. Hamlet, the solitary hero, disappointed and deceived, seeks justification for taking action against a sea of troubles. Lear rages against old age and arrogant indifferent children. And Macbeth is a good man undone by temptation who's headed straight to …
Review: Mr. Marmalade by Two Beards Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 08, 2013
On my way to Mr. Marmalade, the first production staged by the Two Beards Theatre Company, I was momentarily disconcerted to find the parking lot overflowing already at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre. Then I remembered that Trouble Puppet was doing Connor Hopkins' The Head at the same venue. Mr. Marmalade occupied the small studio theatre just to the right of the entrance, and when they didn't find my name among the reservations, they asked which show I was going to. …
Review: The Head by Trouble Puppet Theatre Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 06, 2013
The seductive appeal is definitely to the inner child, even though the entertainment is strictly for adults. We view this parade of images from our own limbic systems.
A miniature mechanical man emerges from a cloud of steam. A ruffled orange and yellow bird squawks obscenities and defecates in the eyepieces of a telescope. A lizard-like thing in wrought iron knee boots flies around the room mounting inanimate objects until someone threatens to get the hose. These are all images in The Head, the latest production of puppet master Connor Hopkins’ Trouble Puppet Theatre Company, set inside a human being’s mind. The model …
Review: Fat Pig by Theatre en Bloc
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 05, 2013
LaBute is cruel to his characters and indirectly to his audiences. He emphasize the mean and selfish aspects of the game of life and love. The tension arises from waiting to see if the beauty of Helen's soul and figure can overcome the inherent deficiencies of social convention and the male sex.
Theatre en Bloc produced this Neil Labute play, directed by Derek Kolluri, at the Off Center in east Austin. The two-word title, Fat Pig ,is one of the most succinct and apt descriptions of the premise and theme of a play ever. The play is about bodies and human beings’ reactions to difference. In exposition, Charles P. Stites in the secondary role of Carter spoke the insightful passages, about how we don’t trust differences of …
Review: The Book of Mormon by touring company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 05, 2013
Mix in with those absurdly over-the-top contrasts all the combustible hormones of adolescence, rev it all up with high-energy clowning and Las-Vegas-style choreography, and you can just ride over the cognitive bumps in the road.
The crowd at Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas was bubbling with gleeful expectation for the opening performance in Austin of The Book of Mormon tour. They responded enthusiastically throughout the evening and went away plainly satisfied with the spectacle and the storytelling. Those South Park guys did it again, as confirmed by all those Tony awards, including the one for best musical, using their cheerful cynicism and satire to tap into the American consciousness. Perhaps television …
Review: Man of La Mancha by Austin Playhouse
by Catherine Dribb
Published on October 03, 2013
To be! Don Quixote would have undoubtedly decided. And with the final weekend approaching, the Playhouse has announced that this has been their highest earning musical in all their eleven years of existence.
While the impossible dream of Austin Playhouse moving into Mueller Development may still be just that, they’ve finally released Man of La Manchainto the Austin art world. For two years it’s been slated as the opening production in their newly built theatre, but with no ground breaking yet, it seems Don Quixote will have to settle for Highland Mall instead. Which seems appropriate really. For the man who battles windmills and sees the potential of …