Recent Reviews
Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor by The Weird Sisters Women's Theater Collective
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 08, 2008
You could imagine "Turnabout is fair play" would be a pretty good heraldic device for the Weird Sisters Women’s Theatre Collective.
Turnabout is fair playmight be the theme for The Merry Wives of Windsor. Penurious, lascivious Sir John Falstaff is out for “cony catching” throughout the play but he just can’t learn his lesson. Falstaff (Courtney Brown) aims to trick and seduce the merry wives of the title: Mistress Margaret Page (Leslie Guerrero, left) and Mistress Alice Ford (Christa French, right).Highly amused by his presumptions, the good ladies entice the lecher to assignations three times, and …
Review: The Taming of the Shrew by The City Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 02, 2008
If you like Shakespeare, if you enjoy a knockabout farce with personable young actors, if you want to see new opportunities for this promising company, GO. See this show!
This presentation of Taming of the Shrew is a gem.So I was baffled to find that on Friday night this company of a dozen talented and attractive actors was performing before an audience totaling only 16 persons.Why hasn't the word gone out? This is the second weekend of five, and given the quality of the show, the place should be packed. I spent $25 for the "reserved' seats, even though tix are regularly $15 and …
Review: The School for Scandal by The Vortex Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 01, 2008
Brenna Pritchard, also a talented song-writer, has an animated valentine-shaped face framed with a flapper’s short bob. Hayley Armstrong, with ingenious expression and mime, slithers herself into an entirely convincing sn
Summer theatre programs for young persons are wonderful. I got my own start treading the boards in just such an enterprise. The Vortex Repertory in east Austin has run its tuition-free program for 13- to 17-year-old actors since 1991. The theatre has racked up awards and the participating students have gotten their own rewards, intrinsic and experiential. For this production of Sheridan’s School for Scandal the company of 14 actors worked with Vortex resident artists …
Review: Romeo and Juliet & Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare at Winedale
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 27, 2008
Not until Kate Attwell opened her balcony window to the night that the play could catch its breath. Her language was superb, each word motivated, sounding spontaneous, playful and unhurried.
We drove out from Austin on Friday afternoon along route 71 as if we were headed for Houston, but we stopped 70 miles out at La Grange to check in to our undistinguished motel room. Then we ate a fine and inexpensive “early bird” dinner at the Bistro 108, at the southwest corner of Courthouse Square. From there, it was a 16-mile drive through rolling green hills with forest and farmland, a dog-leg right at …
Review: The Clean House by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 24, 2008
“The Clean House” is a box of chocolates laced with belladonna. One might taste and enjoy it just once, without harm, but one is tempted to dip into that box again and again.
Everyone in the full house at the Whisenhunt Stage at the Zach Scott enjoyed this four-actor comedy by Sarah Ruhl, winner in 2006 of a MacArthur “genius” fellowship.I was lucky to be able to see the show at all. As a newcomer to the Zach Scott, I had assumed that the reduced prices for Wednesday evening shows were intended to scrape up an audience – after all, almost none of the other companies in town …
Review: Henry V by Red Then Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 08, 2008
Faires walked into the playing area, causing a hush that appeared to embarrass him. "Oh, please go on talking!" He was too near the sacred space for us to feel at ease.
We arrived on that hot Saturday July 4 afternoon at the Off Center to be greeted by Barbara Chisholm and a cup of champagne.Stepping from the heat and dazzle into the cool dimness of the theatre, we found ourselves face-to-face with Robert Faires himself. He greeted us, welcomed us, and accompanied us to our choice of seats. In that small assembly we saw faces familiar to us from Austin's stages.A woman of handsome, striking appearance …