Recent Reviews
Review #2 of 2: Shining City by Different Stages
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 13, 2022
This production of Conor McPherson's Shining City does prove yet again that great actors cannot be held back by poor material.
Certainly, you are familiar with the expression sucked all the air out of the room. We have all felt that moment. Now imagine feeling only that moment for nearly two hours without intermission. Conor McPherson, an Irish playwright and screenwriter from Dublin, began writing in college and went on to find success on both the West End and Broadway beginning in 1999 with his play The Weir. He is considered to be one of the …
Review: Blithe Spirit by Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 08, 2022
Noël Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT, a favorite, undergoes a subtle color change, but the fun is all there. What if spiritualism really worked? Things might get complicated!
With Halloween upon us, director Andrea Littlefield and her folks at Lockhart's Gaslight Baker Theatre have brought us a twist on Noël Cowart's never-ageing ghostly comedy. Blithe Spirit is one of my favorites. Coward, a master of witty repartee and witty lyrics, is given no shrift at all in the GBT program. That's unfortunate, for at dress rehearsal the entire front row was occupied by eager theatre club teens—they could look him up at Wikipedia, …
Review: Hadestown by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 06, 2022
HADESTOWN is a bluesy allegory about the hero's journey, a realistic one not at all diminished by defeat. Doing what is right is both the journey and the journey’s end.
Let us thank the gods for Hadestown! Let us thanks Hades for showing us who are the true gods! And let us thank Hadestown the musical for not only finally giving the trombone its due but reviving and revitalizing modern day Broadway! Here is a production with its heart in the right place, for it has a devout appreciation for live music in its heart! If this beginning sounds like the praiseful chorus of a …
Review#1 of 2: The Pact by Jarrott Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 05, 2022
Austin playwright Max Langert creates a somewhat wacky middle-class family as a vehicle to impart wisdom through their dysfunctional behavior. The cast is the very conjunction of excellent contemporary theatre in Austin.
Review by Courtney Thomas, Sightlines magazine, October 3, 2022 The Pact by Austin playwright Max Langert is a comedy exploring contemporary relations, with a heavy emphasis on action involving cell phones. Cell phone acting and storytelling are yet another trope marking a new horizon in the theatrical world. Look for more of same in the future. Langert’s sophisticated writing creates a somewhat wacky middle-class family. Their dysfunctional behavior and failed, destructive relationships are a teaching …
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 strategies …
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 the …