Recent Reviews
Review: Present Laughter by Austin Shakespeare
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 22, 2016
In Noël Coward's witty drawing-room comedy emotions swirl about ever so polite characters, and there are plenty of hungry hearts and deceits. Matinée idol protagonist Gary Essendine's unashamed indulgence is refreshing by contrast.
Most of those in Noël Coward's London audiences would have immediately caught the Shakespeare reference of the title. In Twelfth Night Feste the clown serenades Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek: O mistress mine, where are you roaming?O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,That can sing both high and low:Trip no further, pretty sweeting;Journeys end in lovers meeting,Every wise man's son doth know. What is love? 'tis not hereafter;Present mirth hath present laughter;What's …
Review: Bajo Terapía by Pedemonte Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 20, 2016
Bajo Terapía presents itself as bouncy comedy, where one would like to step into the same room and interact with the characters. And a final plot twist is likely to take your breath away.
Argentine writer Matías del Federico's Bajo Terapía places three couples in an absurd and ethically unacceptable group therapy situation, but we're so captivated by the wit and the fast-moving comedy that we don't care a bit about that. Their psychotherapist Antonia has summoned them to the equivalent of a 'locked-room' group therapy session. Three couples in their 30s and 40s, evidently with no connections other than Antonia, turn up in a room furnished with starkly …
Review: Wraith Radio by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 18, 2016
Like Wraith and Star, in our lives we may find ourselves in rooms without safe exits and without clearly defined missions. Our messages become our missions.
Chris Fontanes' original works for Bottle Alley Theatre Company tend to take place in the dark. There are good reasons for that. He and his collaborators have been making seat-of-the-pants theatre in Austin since September, 2012. I reviewed his work Stage back then, and when I checked the date on that review just now I discovered to my embarrassment that in 2012 I used exactly the same term: "seat-of-the-pants theatre." So let's be more …
Review: Belleville by Amy Herzog, Texas State University
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 16, 2016
In BELLEVILLE Kailey Hyman has the charisma of an actress capable of evoking sympathy, pity, elation and panic in turn, all couched coherent in a character in search of resolution.
Amy Herzog's Belleville at Texas State offered a clever cross between an Innocents Abroad tale and a psychological thriller of deceit, confusion and crossed cultures. It's no sordid tale of crime; it's a story of loving too much and too blindly. The protagonists are Abby and Zack, married during Zack's med school studies and now relocated to the mixed-ethnic eastern Paris suburb of Belleville. Zack disappears during the day for a residency with a French …
Review: Mouthful by Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 15, 2016
An evening of ideologically flavored dishes of varied quality and appeal, MOUTHFUL has one deftly captivating piece by Clare Bayley and one appalling rant by Neil LaBute
The collection of six short plays packaged as Mouthful and presented by the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward's University in Austin is an odd assortment. Loosely themed to concerns about nutrition and the world food supply, this evening is more a potluck than a smörgåsbord. A potluck meal usually unites the like-minded around a meal that's anything but predetermined, often with dishes of varied quality and appeal, while the classic Scandinavian smörgåsbord presents an …
Review: The School for Scandal by Classic Theatre of San Antonio
by Kurt Gardner
Published on November 11, 2016
'Rambunctious' is clearly the best word to describe the Classic Theatre's hilarious production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy of manners, complete with cell phones and selfies.
When one thinks of a play written nearly 250 years ago, the last adjective to come to mind would be rambunctious, but that’s clearly the best word to describe the hilarious production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy of manners The School for Scandal, now playing at the Classic Theatre. You’ve never met a nastier group of backbiting gossip mongerers than this lot. As a matter of fact, one character is literally named Backbite — …