Recent Reviews
Review: Unbeaten by Shannon McCormick and Graham Reynolds
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 31, 2008
McCormick charms the crowd, interacts with them, responds to them. In one chilling moment, he stops front and center in a spotlight to deliver “the unheard voice between the coach’s ears” with the message that we all lose eventually.
American football is already highly stylized theatre.The fact that the sport has not spread beyond our country, unlike those other great American pastimes baseball and basketball, suggests that the Saturday and Sunday gridiron kabuki says something unique about the American mentality. A writer in The Economist once called it “the quintessential sport of the United States – a combination of committee work and violence.” Writer/actor/self-director Shannon McCormick has a keen eye for the characters and …
Review: Sleuth by Gaslight Baker Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 27, 2008
I was appropriately misdirected, surprised, and satisfied by this production. Congratulations to the actors and to the company for taking it on. I will continue to make that 30-mile trek down to Lockhart.
I continue to be impressed by the craft and love of theatre of the Gaslight Baker Theatre, which is “putting the art in Lockhart.” The broad two-story set installed in the former movie theatre on South Main Street is nothing less than epic, with columns, French doors, a working staircase, a billiard table, meticulous set decoration and furnishings that look authentic and very pricey. The production staff once again mastered that huge expanse of stage …
Review: World of Horrorcraft by Scare for a Cure
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 23, 2008
Audience members acting as “beta testers” signed formal releases of liability that were pretty scary in themselves (what’s this about “you may be subjected to flying insects”???).
Last night I was in one of the first uninformed groups to pass through the haunted house set up by Scare for A Cure at the Elk’s Lodge near the downtown arts venues. The premise is that the Dunstan Interactive Corporation, flush with its success in video games, has recruited you as a “beta tester.” Their new product is a step forward - - instead of sitting glassy eyed at a monitor with a keyboard …
Review: Night of the Living Dead by Weird City Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 23, 2008
“They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” And by gosh, they are. That figure, tottering across the grass and between the headstones, attacks them. Barbara flees and takes refuge in an isolated house. Why do we love this stuff so much?
Why do we enjoy this stuff so much? A brother and sister arrive at an isolated cemetery to leave a wreath on their father’s grave. He scoffs and complains. She reproaches his irreverence. He recalls the childhood fright he gave her, long ago, in this same place, and intones in sepulchral cadence, “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!”And by gosh, they are. That figure, tottering across the grass and between the headstones, attacks them. Barbara …
Review: World of Horrorcraft by Scare for a Cure
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 23, 2008
Audience members acting as “beta testers” signed formal releases of liability that were pretty scary in themselves (what’s this about “you may be subjected to flying insects”???).
Last night I was in one of the first uninformed groups to pass through the haunted house set up by Scare for A Cure at the Elk’s Lodge near the downtown arts venues. The premise is that the Dunstan Interactive Corporation, flush with its success in video games, has recruited you as a “beta tester.” Their new product is a step forward - - instead of sitting glassy eyed at a monitor with a keyboard …
Review: The Taming of the Shrew by The Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 20, 2008
From her first spat with sister Bianca, Katarina O'keefe comes across as more put upon and neglected, hungry for attention, than really curs’d. Her father Baptista dismisses her rather than cringing from her.
This show was a lot of fun.First, for the setting - - a Sunday afternoon in mild fall weather in Texas, in the park-like setting near the sweep of the river. The Curtain Theatre is a Globe-type construction with an Elizabethan thrust stage and gallery seating. The host, unfortunately, was absent, because he was visiting the international space station. Thanks to Richard Garriott for his generosity to Shakespeare and to Shakespearians! Producer Pam Martin said …