Recent Reviews
Review #1 of 2: Shining City by Different Stages
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 24, 2022
SHINING CITY, a therapy play, is slow-paced and too great a stretch for many adults in the theatre community—unless they're immune to scatology, misogyny, and excessive foul language poorly performed
Was Conor McPherson going through a divorce or coming out about the time he wrote Shining City? In its stories and action, the play repeatedly throws relationships that don’t work at the theatregoer, and McPherson delights in detailing how men fumble ham-handedly with women in every situation. This is the lit-crit expectation of the nihilistic McPherson, but if anyone in everyday life is going through anything similar, don’t expect Shining City to offer any …
Review: The Virgin Trial by Alchemy Theatre Company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on September 18, 2022
Character-driven and gripping, THE VIRGIN TRIAL is a night of must-see theater, both timely and timeless. Soleil Patterson is a powerhouse as Bess, the future Elizabeth I
Austin’s own Alchemy Theater continues to do its part to take on challenging drama with vital political significance. While it would certainly be easier to fall back on feel-good performances especially during such trying times, the company persists on producing daring theater which sparks not only joy but heartfelt conversation. Their latest offering, Kate Hennig’s The Virgin Trial (originally produced in the U.S. at the Cygnet Theatre in San Diego in September, 2019) tells …
Review: Macbeth by The Archive Theater Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 13, 2022
The essential quality of Shakespeare’s supernaturalism is his ability to knife directly into the minds and psychology of the characters. Archive Theatre's Appalachian imagining does just that.
What can one say about Macbeth? Volumes have been written about that one Shakespeare play, its fabled history, and its purported curse. Everyone has read it and seen it on stage, on TV, and in one of many filmed versions. What compels production companies to continue staging it? For my money, it's the narrative of a timeless story told in language dense in imagery and offering endless opportunities for variety in staging. This …
Review: Gentle Our Driftless Caravan by En Route Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 04, 2022
The ensemble expressed gentleness and caring for one other and for a nature being pushed back improvidently by our species—much as was the walnut grove sheltering this space.
Every human being walks through rain with eyes open. That's one of the insights on human suffering and sorrows suggested in Gentle Our Driftless Caravan. And that's why on August 31 it was a great omen of blessing that a huge electrical storm soaked every element of the production and forced a cancellation of the opening performance. Gentle Our Driftless Caravan hails from the collaboration of En Route Productions, Blipswitch Movement, and Alexa Capareda. …
Review: Lardo Weeping by Local Opera Local Artists - LOLA
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 22, 2022
The tragedy and darkness of LARDO WEEPING is the harsh reality none of us like to admit—that most of us vacillate between ambition and hopelessness,and never find true stability or strike a sustaining balance.
Lardo Weeping has been called a chamber opera, a smaller-scale opera designed to be performed by a chamber ensemble and a smaller cast. Such a confining definition certainly does not capture the operatic grandeur of this production. Its impact on one’s impressions is magnified by the sensory contrasts it imposes on attendees. The production is professionally realized, and the first contrast is the venue. Crashbox is an interesting choice for staging an opera, …
Review: Mean Girls by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on August 08, 2022
The MEAN GIRLS touring cast and producers relied on the material and not the performances to deliver the goods. The tap-dancing scene felt phoned in, but the comedic material is strong enough to provide a full night of entertainment.
The city of Austin is fortunate to be a perennial stop for touring Broadway productions. There are nearly thirty different touring productions visiting approximately 240 different cities in the United States in a single year. The newly renovated Bass Concert Hall has all the bells and whistles necessary to accommodate such large performances. It also has recently reconfigured their security, making it much easier to enter the venue which is a greatly welcome alteration—especially considering …