Recent Reviews
Brevity Is The Soul of Sh*t: Brian Paul Scipione Questions Rev. Michael Ironside, Creator of Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare (in Austin from January 22, 2016)
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on January 21, 2016
Why here for the next step of a stage run that begins London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Boston. . . Austin?
Rev. Lewis Ironside, I would like to start by thanking you for taking the time to talk with us today. I have to say there is a bit of cautious anticipation being built up about the debut of your production Sh*t-faced Shakespeare this weekend at the Spider House Ballroom but the first question is why here as the next step of a run that begins London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Boston… Austin? We first took the show to …
Review: And Still The Dead Lay Moaning by Anthony Bromberg, FronteraFest at Santa Cruz Studio Theatre, January 19 - 30, 2016
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 20, 2016
The show felt long and slow-paced but even so a satisfying and appropriate work of festival theatre.
We knew where this one was going from the title. The writing challenge for Bromberg, a local talent, was to create a deepening mystery on the cause of death of the title character. Was it murder from a terrorist attack, a suicide, advanced cancer or something else? All these options were floated sequentially as the play progressed. It all deepened and unraveled, and resolution came much later with a fair amount of surprise despite the obvious outcome. …
Review: Liberté, Égalité, Adoptée by Maggie Gallant, FronteraFest at The Back Pack, January 19 - 31, 2016
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 20, 2016
Maggie Gallant's true courage in this first-person show is awe-inspiring.
The true courage of any one-person show performer is awe-inspiring. To pull it all off successfully in performance doubles the kudos thrown to the performer. Maggie Gallant runs the table in her Liberté, Egalité Adoptée, showing at various times through January 31st at Ground Floor Theatre in east Austin as part of the Fronterafest Long Fringe festival. This show compares favorably to last fall’s Naked as a Gaybird, Jay Byrd’s skilled and well-received one-man …
Review: Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, Austin Playhouse
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 20, 2016
Powerful but subtle J. Ben Wolfe as Amir Is almost a tragic hero, but playwright Akhtar implies that Amir's an ugly template for Muslims.
J. Ben Wolfe is a powerful but subtle actor, and that's just what's required in Ayad Akhtar's brooding drama Disgraced. This ninety-minute one-act in four scenes delves deep into the psyche of Amir, the protagonist, who's a tense, talented and aspiring attorney in a New York law firm specializing in big-money litigation. Amir is handling big issues, both at work and in his personal life. His family immigrated from Pakistan when he was eight years …
Review by Dr. David Glen Robinson (#3 of 3): FALLEN ANGELS by Noël Coward, Different Stages, January 8 - 30, 2016
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 17, 2016
The design credit to Paul Gilbert as cook for the champagne-splashed supper in Act II seemed highly appropriate and very well deserved.
Different Stages, one of Austin’s longest running theatre companies, presents Fallen Angels by Noel Coward, at Trinity Street Theater inside the First Baptist Church of Austin on Trinity Street. The play dates to 1924, and it is one of several Coward plays that remains in the regular theatre repertoire. Different Stages takes a fresh and lively approach to all its productions, and Fallen Angels is no exception to the rule. For those newly exploring theatre, the …
Review by Michael Meigs (#2 of 3): FALLEN ANGELS by Noël Coward, Different Stages, January 8 - 30, 2016
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 13, 2016
The lightheadedness and the lightheartedness of these women friends is charming. Director Norman Blumensaadt moves them smartly and cleverly about the stage.
Comedy is fundamental to the human condition. We laugh at the unexpected if it's pleasurable, and we laugh at the incongruous. Often the comic moment in art depends upon a certain distancing: it's funny when a clown slips on a banana peel but it's not funny when we do the same thing. And comedy can be cruel. Satire exposes and intensifies that which we find ridiculous. We poke fun at the pretentious, those who think …