Recent Reviews
Review: Atlantis, A Puppet Opera by Chad Salvata, Directed for Ethos by Bonnie Cullum, September 3 - 24, 2016 at the Vortex
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 08, 2016
Ethos and Vortex Repertory Theatre have never missed a beat in their dance along the high road of fantastic myth and over the bridge to theatrical reality. ATLANTIS: A PUPPET OPERA is a must-see. You may want to see it twice. It's that good.
Atlantis: A Puppet Opera is without doubt the best musical theatre, or opera, or cyber-opera currently playing in Austin. Now is not the time to quibble over genres. Now is the time to throw down everything and rush to the Vortex to buy tickets, or online if you’re not afraid of being hacked. Ethos, embodied by Chad Salvata, the writer, composer and production designer of Atlantis: A Puppet Opera, specializes in original high fantasies set …
Review: Orphans by Street Corner Arts
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 27, 2016
ORPHANS presents a Peter Pan/Neverland scenario of amoral feral children for whom Michael Stuart turns up as sage con man and, in effect, a guiding guardian angel.
Aaron Johnson, co-producer and cast member, told Alex Garza during a CTX Live Theatre interview that he's been carrying around Lyle Kessler's 1983 drama Orphans since his freshman year in college. Street Corner Arts' new Sidewalk Series of semi-sponsored work has given him the opportunity to put it on stage. Or, rather, into one side of the Back Pack improv troupe's well hidden rehearsal space in east Austin. To find it, you need to know …
Review: W. (Woyzeck) by Austin Jewish Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on August 26, 2016
The unpredictable plot, the in-your-face dramatic technique later to become known as 'Brechtian,' and above all the power of Joey Hood's acting make this a vital although harrowing experience.
He's the inevitable choice for Woyzeck. Joey Hood's intense, unfllinching stage presence has intimidated and attracted audiences many times here in Austin, often in the primal cavern of the Hyde Park Theatre. He has worked memorably for Graham Schmidt's Breaking String Theatre as it explored the menacing world of contemporary Russian theatre. The enduring image I retain of Joey Hood is that from I Am The Machine Gunner by Yuri Klavdiev, another solo performance. In …
Review: Hand to God by Capital T Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 22, 2016
Jason’s friend Tyrone, orange, big-eyed, and suspiciously Muppet-like, eventually takes over entirely, like the voice of addiction promising wholeness if you just follow the plan of action. This breaks out in a steaming milieu of exploding lust and throwdown sex.
Just when the community thought Mark Pickell's Capital T Theatre had reached a plateau with the spectacular Trevor, it tops itself with Robert Askins' play Hand to God, playing now at the Hyde Park Theatre. The work defies categorization, having components of horror, comedy, and tragedy. It involves a church youth group and a peculiar hand puppet made in the group that starts speaking with a scatological mind of its own. Demon possession is feared, …
Review: Again - Family, Friends and Lovers by Exchange Artists
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 21, 2016
AGAIN shows the sustaining power of the narrative. Telling and enacting stories strikes deeply into the lives of attendees. Skip the self-therapy and proceed straight to self-knowledge.
Again…Family, Friends, and Lovers, Exchange Artists’ latest offering, promises to become another of their innovative series.Rachel Wiese, Katherine Craft, and Bridget Farr are the company's trio of producing artists. Singly or together they propose and produce a show or series for the company. Farr is the lead producer for the Again series and has brought to the stage a deeply thoughtful and original production full of artistry and talented actors, storytellers, and writers. The premise …
Review: Salomé by Gale Theatre Company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on August 19, 2016
Salomé is not some kind of cold calculating Disneyesque villain out for revenge. She is a person. A woman. A little girl. She is a torrent of true and visceral emotion. She is a queen and a pawn in her own life.
“Never Felt So Near” Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, but practically used as both a greeting and a farewell (none too distant from the Arabic word for peace: salaam, also used for hello and goodbye), is derived from the same root word as the name of the real-life and biblical character Salomé. Named for peace, Salomé is recorded both by history and the Bible as a person not known for it. She is notorious …