Recent Reviews
Review: Fat Pig by Theatre en Bloc
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 05, 2013
LaBute is cruel to his characters and indirectly to his audiences. He emphasize the mean and selfish aspects of the game of life and love. The tension arises from waiting to see if the beauty of Helen's soul and figure can overcome the inherent deficiencies of social convention and the male sex.
Theatre en Bloc produced this Neil Labute play, directed by Derek Kolluri, at the Off Center in east Austin. The two-word title, Fat Pig ,is one of the most succinct and apt descriptions of the premise and theme of a play ever. The play is about bodies and human beings’ reactions to difference. In exposition, Charles P. Stites in the secondary role of Carter spoke the insightful passages, about how we don’t trust differences of …
Review: Man of La Mancha by Austin Playhouse
by Catherine Dribb
Published on October 03, 2013
To be! Don Quixote would have undoubtedly decided. And with the final weekend approaching, the Playhouse has announced that this has been their highest earning musical in all their eleven years of existence.
While the impossible dream of Austin Playhouse moving into Mueller Development may still be just that, they’ve finally released Man of La Manchainto the Austin art world. For two years it’s been slated as the opening production in their newly built theatre, but with no ground breaking yet, it seems Don Quixote will have to settle for Highland Mall instead. Which seems appropriate really. For the man who battles windmills and sees the potential of …
Review: Tragedy: A Tragedy by Hyde Park Theatre
by Jessica Helmke
Published on September 22, 2013
As the play comes to an end, the reporters tire and the anchor tap dances his way to a desperate conclusion. “This is John, crapping out,” says the weatherman.
Much To Say About NothingThe sun has set. The theatre is quiet. And a play begins. Just another normal Thursday night in Austin's Hyde Park neighborhood. But maybe it’s more than that, suggests playwright Will Eno. His play Tragedy: A Tragedy is now running at Hyde Park Theatre, engaging audiences with ironic perceptions of mundane, everyday life. Eno’s repetitious cyclone of humor entertains the audience with threads of thematic action, roccoco rythmic storytelling, glimmers of …
Review: Stay by Wimberley Players
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 17, 2013
STAY is a concept piece, a one-trick pony that can be made to work by talented director David McCullars, his capable cast, and the Players' fine technical support.
The Wimberley Players give Sheila Cowley's Stay a quality production with a strong cast and superb production values. This piece by the Florida playwright had its premiere with the Players Theatre in Sarasota, and its transfer between local theatres ready to try out new work is an encouraging sign that not all such venues are in lockstep with the likes of Arsenic and Old Lace, Neil Simon and the Texas gothic comedies of Jones, Hope …
Review: Art Show/Model Show by Paper Chairs
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 03, 2013
The models who created this show classify it as documentary theatre. They have a video record of their topic much more extensive than the images shown in the performance. They have identified and developed a powerful topic and a bold presentation.
A Participating Artist's Impressions The artists stood at easels or sat at drawing tables in the well of the theatre, downstage center, or more aptly, house center. The stage was multilevel, rising before us and offering sightlines better than in most figurative art workshops. The lighting on the models was also much better than in any workshop. My choice of oil on canvas as the medium ensured no relaxation on my part. I sweated and …
Review: Zeus in Therapy by Tutto Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 23, 2013
Director Gary Jaffe and friends do the playwright full justice, and they grace us all with their version of the ancient Greek concept of mimesis, the concept that works of art are to be understood as models for beauty, truth and the good.
Tutto Theatre's Zeus in Therapy by the late UT classics professor Douglass Stott Parker is dazzling, and at times, as his brilliant wordplay coincides with the gesturing and capering of the astonishing Greek chorus, it is simply stunning. 'Stunning' is a word thrown about lightly in the casual talk of our day. But I mean it literally. The brilliance, complexity and sheer entertainment value of this staging and this cast is sufficient to blow your …