The set of Dead Man's Cell Phone. Sarah Ruhl is one of contemporary American theatre’s best and brightest, so I was very much looking forward to seeing Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Unfortunately, the MT Pockets production of the play was extremely disappointing. The play itself is good, but the performance was a letdown. Ruhl’s play …
Continue reading Dead Man’s Cell Phone, by Sarah Ruhl–17 Aug. 2019
*For full disclosure, I worked as dramaturg for this production* Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons is a complex, philosophical play grounded in history, theology, philosophy, ethics, and existentialism. But it’s one of the best plays of the 20th century. Bolt’s play is dynamic and challenging, raising issues that are not only relevant for …
Continue reading A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt–8 Aug. 2019
The set of Office Hours at Nittany Theatre at the Barn. The Nittany Theatre at the Barn loves putting on Norm Foster shows, and there’s a very good reason for that. Foster’s plays are funny and intricately clever. Office Hours perfectly fits that bill, and the Nittany Theatre production, directed by Andrew Saxe, did a …
The Duchess of Malfi was originally a Jacobean play by John Webster—one of the best early modern plays, in my opinion. But what Zinnie Harris has done with her new version is amazing. She has kept the dark, violent, misogynistic themes of the original, but updated it to feel fresh, contemporary, and even (perhaps surprisingly) …
Continue reading The Duchess (of Malfi), by Zinnie Harris–28 May 2019
Set in a contemporary Irish school, Iseult Golden and David Horan’s Class is a gripping play about the many differences that divide us and shape our social interactions—especially class, gender, and education. The Bush Theatre’s original production, directed by the authors, was an excellent show, driven by high tension and complex characters. The set of …
Continue reading Class, by Iseult Golden and David Horan–21 May 2019
Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children is one of the great examples of Brecht’s epic theatre style, and the Juniata College production (directed by Chris Staley) put Brechtian alienation techniques at center stage. In its rather rough self-consciousness, the performance would almost certainly make Brecht proud. The play tells the story of a …
Continue reading Mother Courage and Her Children, by Bertolt Brecht–28 Apr. 2019
Mad Cow Theatre’s production of Top Girls was the first Caryl Churchill play I’ve seen other than Cloud Nine, which I’ve seen twice. While Churchill is an amazingly influential playwright, in the US, Cloud Nine is almost certainly her most performed play (not without good reason) so it was great to see another of her …
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is one of his oddest plays. It’s essentially divided between two halves, the one set in the court of Sicily and the other in the pastoral idyll of Bohemia. The first half is a psychological portrait of paranoia, violence, and oppressive patriarchy, and the second half blends rustic charm with redemptive …
Continue reading The Winter’s Tale, by William Shakespeare–27 Mar. 2019
Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 is one of my favorite plays. It’s deep and complex, but also problematic (for reasons which will be explained more below). The first half is set in roughly 1880 in British colonial Africa. The act centers on Clive and his family, including his young son Edward (played by a female actor), …
The set of The Love List Norm Foster’s The Love List is a funny play about desire, perfection, and finding that special someone. Nittany Theatre at the Barn’s production, directed by Laura Ann Saxe, was an enjoyable show, though it sometimes lacked polish. The play opens with Bill—a single statistician in his 50s—and Leon—his unfaithfully …
Phillip Zapkin 