Reviews for Penfold Theatre Company Performances
Review: Ghosts by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 21, 2011
Babs George evidences depth and choked passion, a stoic clear-eyed acceptance of injustice and a devotion to the son whom she has in fact not known since his childhood. Babs George could read me the classified ads on stage for an hour and I wouldn't have enough of her.
The Penfold/Breaking String joint production of Ghosts is a moody, beautiful piece. Its honesty to Ibsen's 1881 text is almost a disadvantage, for among us twentieth-first century chrononauts will be some who find inexplicable and inherently comic the restraint of his language. How quaint not to name the evils: prostitution, syphillis, debauchery, incest, spouse abuse, addiction, wifely duty, madness, social convention, obligatory purity for women, licensed libertinism for men . . . . By retaining Ibsen's …
Review: Ghosts by Penfold Theatre Company
by Hannah Bisewski
Published on October 21, 2011
This production is not for the intellectually lazy, but Ibsen's work, more than a century old, remains rewarding experience for those willing to engage with its themes.
Penfold Theatre Company and the Breaking String Theater joined forces to stage Ghosts, producing a well considered work that breathes a fresh vitality into a familiar story. Revolutionary reevaluation of old convention is precisely the theme of Ghosts. Settling into their seats in the cramped, angular space of the Hyde Park Theatre, the audience sees a dusty, dirty, though elegant, Victorian-era living room. A dim chandelier hangs from a cobweb-lined ceiling. Given the play’s title, an …
Review: The Servant of Two Masters by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 19, 2011
This is a zippy, funny, fast confection, with all the energy of improv and the grace of comic ballet. It's not a musical, although a rank of musicians provide incidental accompaniment. Words and gags fly like Frisbees.
I always enjoy watching the handsome and talented Penfold Theatre folk. Not only onstage in their accomplished presentations, of which The Servant of Two Masters directed by Beth Burns is only the latest shining example, but also as with considerable skill they build their presence and reputation. Austin attracts graduates of theatre programs the way that Nashville attracts banjo pickers, and with not much effort I could name you half a dozen groups of friends who …
Review: I Love You Because by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 28, 2011
If bartenders are so worldly wise and encouraging, why don't they rule the world? And when it all comes down to making the Big Hard Choice, is the rules-follower going to follow his game plan or follow his heart? (No points for guessing that one right!)
Michael McKelvey set up his collaboration with Penfold Theatre and Andrew Cannata six months or more in advance, long before the announcement that he will be leaving Austin for Pennsylvania this coming fall. Remembering their previous successes Five Years,Three Days of Rain and John and Jen, I arranged specially to return early from a family celebration in Houston in order to catch the show on Sunday, June 19. When we turned up at the Hyde Park Theatre, …
Review: John and Jen by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 08, 2010
Andrew Cannata has the job of growing up twice in this script. The first act features some charming and evocative brother-and-sister play before Jen leaves home. In the second act Cannata's distress with his Mom is presented.
Working with Michael McKelvey of St. Edward's University, the budding Penfold Theatre has occupied relatively unexploited theatre territory in Austin: the contemporary intimate musical. John & Jen has a genre resemblance to their pioneer show The Last Five Years. Two actors in an intimate space, with most of the story told in song and complex, sophisticated accompanying music. On his website, composer Andrew Lippa calls it a "chamber musical." The music is scored for keyboard, cello and percussion. That …
Review: Three Days of Rain by Penfold Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 22, 2009
Had we but world enough and time, Three Days of Rain would be one of those rare theatre pieces to attend several times. Both script and performances offer nuance, detail and revelations to deepen meanings upon each viewing.
This play by Penfold Theatre is a gem. Coming after their play The Last Five Years in January of this year, it confirms that the Penfold company has a vision and a talent for choosing and staging pieces that fit it.Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain might just as well have been titled Two Generations or Hopes and Enigmas, because those three days are mentioned only in a scribbled note in a diary. They become emblematic after the death of the man …