Recent Reviews
Review: Matt & Ben by Penny Dime Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 24, 2017
Much of the funny comes from watching the women represent male bonding behavior. Guy slovenliness rules, and happy dreams of success without discernible pathways to them dominate their talk.
What happens when a buddy story about a brainy jock and a happy jerk in Massachusetts is performed by a pair of sopranos at the Institution Theatre, a hang-out for aspiring improv artists? And say, how's that for an opening paragraph of a review? Probably just about as surprising as the opening scene of Matt & Ben when a fully written and brilliantly crafted movie script falls out of the ceiling and lands …
Review: Bloomsday by Steven Dietz, Austin Playhouse
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 22, 2017
Compounded of equal parts of nostagia, romance and whimsy, BLOOMSDAY is a clever tale that takes the classic romantic comedy into the fourth dimension and multiple beyonds.
If you're one of the legions who have started to read James Joyce's Ulysses and eventually abandoned it, take heart: Steven Dietz's Bloomsday is tied to that massive novel only by the lightest of gossamer threads. Compounded of equal parts of nostagia, romance and whimsy, it's a clever tale that takes the classic boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-finds-girl into the fourth dimension and multiple beyonds. Following theatrical convention, we're introduced to a trip down memory lane by Robert, …
Review #1 of 2: A PERFECT ROBOT by Sarah Saltwick, Vortex Repertory, January 19 - February 11, 2017
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 22, 2017
Sarah Saltwick's A PERFECT ROBOT is multi-layered and gives us robots, yes, but also a love story. Mollybot senses the world anew, imperfect in her highest functions and full of naïveté.
Anticipating Sarah Saltwick’s A Perfect Robot, we wonder what direction the play will take. Will it move toward robots and artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the world imperfectly, as in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis? Or will it take the deeper, heart-wrenching approach of that moral diamond in the rough, 1983’s Bladerunner, the film by Ridley Scott? The latter, especially, poses the question of what it means to have self-aware consciousness, what it means to be human. Can Saltwick’s play …
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Review: Fool for Love by Playhouse San Antonio
by Kurt Gardner
Published on January 20, 2017
Playhouse San Antonio's production of Sam Shepard's 1983 work is well-staged, but the piece itself has lost much of its original ability to shock.
So many theatrical works grow in stature and continue to preserve their ability to mesmerize new audiences as the years pass. Unfortunately, such is not the case with Sam Shepard’s 1983 Fool for Love. Though it’s well-directed and performed by a talented cast, Playhouse San Antonio’s production, currently playing in the Cellar Theatre, isn’t ever as edgy as it wants to be. The onstage violence and subversive subject may have been shocking …
Review: The Rat Pack Lounge by Roxie Theatre Company
by Kurt Gardner
Published on January 19, 2017
It’s silly stuff, but director Jonathan Pennington has fun with the off-the-wall material, and his easygoing cast goes along with the gag. Virtually the entire second act is a concert.
James Hindman and Ray Roderick’s The Rat Pack Lounge is predominantly a concert tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. That’s a good thing, because what plot there is seems to be a mashup of It’s a Wonderful Life and Forever Plaid that’s both bizarre and bizarrely complicated. Here’s the plot, such as it is. The Rat Packers, all happily dwelling in Heaven, are ordered by God to return to earth to stop the suicide of Vic …
Review #2 of 2: Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sara Ruhl, En Route Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 15, 2017
Jean tells whoppers to make the world a better place but she doesn't anticipate the consequences. Trouble is funny, and Sarah Ruhl’s play is an extraordinary example of postmodern comedic absurdism.
The set is a café. The décor is generally rectilinear, with many sharp lines and planes. Let’s call it Finnish Modern, because it is designed by Ia Ensterä, Finland’s design gift to Austin. Ms Ensterä is currently dividing her time between Finland in pursuit of an advanced degree and Austin for many creative design projects. Her set here is dominated by a wall installation of small brown and white boxes. Some of them have …