If Only This Midsummer Night Were a Dream
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an enchantment. When a feuding fairy king and queen, a mischievous sprite, mismatched lovers, and a farcical, amateur acting company share the stage, ardor, revenge, deception, whimsy and magic reign. Any director must helm all this with clear point of view, however, or chaos ensues. Unfortunately, Lear deBessonet apparently […]
Julius Caesar – Truth AND Consequences
First, necessarily, comments on the controversy: Theater is a living, breathing art form. It has always reflected and reacted to its time. Currently, LGBT and apocalyptic themes are joined by a proliferation of stories with immigrant, and Middle East discourse/illumination. Religious freedom, women’s rights and segregation have ruled the stage in waves. As you’ve undoubtedly […]
Gently Down the Stream – Evolution of A May/December Romance
Beauregard/Beau (Harvey Fierstein) is a 62 year-old, New Orleans born saloon pianist living in a London flat that indicates he’s made money in his time. An honest, sensitive, gay man, he suffered tragic losses in the U.S. during the height of violence against homosexuals and burgeoning AIDs, fled to Paris, and finally nested where he […]
One Flea Spare – Strange Bedfellows
Naomi Wallace’s award-winning play was last presented in New York at The Public Theater in 1996. It’s intriguing to consider why Playhouse Creatures think its revival timely. Mr. and Mrs. Snelgrave (Gordon Joseph Weiss and Concetta Tomei), a wealthy, older couple in 17th Century London, are quarantined in their home while the plague rages around […]
Troilus & Cressida – War, Infidelity, War, Did I Mention War?!
Another reframed Shakespeare play, another 13 (I counted) helicopters disturbing performance (these can’t be rerouted?!), another frighteningly lifelike battle utilizing explosions and assault rifles?! Troilus & Cressida appears to have been selected and certainly was staged to shock. A lengthy combat scene is viscerally difficult to sit through. At a time when war, increased local […]
Runaways – Vibrant !
Just ran away. I had to run away./My parents can hear, but I can’t,/and they blame me for that…(signed by a deaf actor ) Author Elizabeth Swados was in her mid twenties when, following on the heels of Hair and A Chorus Line, Runaways moved from The Public Theater to Broadway. Hair is affectionately (?) […]
Taming of the Shrew – A Train Off the Tracks
What with Hilary Clinton hopefully on her way to The White House and a resurgence of women’s groups focused on everything from reproductive rights to career opportunities, The Public Theater apparently thinks mounting an all-female production of The Taming of the Shrew is timely quid pro quo. (All productions in Shakespeare’s time were acted exclusively […]