Doomed to Live: A Review of The Two Character Play at Theatre L'Acadie
The great test facing the fearful protagonists of this rarely produced Tennessee Williams play"simply going outside"is disturbingly pertinent at this moment.
The great test facing the fearful protagonists of this rarely produced Tennessee Williams play"simply going outside"is disturbingly pertinent at this moment.
The real poison at work here isn't strychnine or hemlock, it's a dreary self-seriousness that leaches the play of any hint of wit, humor and humanity.
Hardly seen in the past fifty years, the enterprising thespians at TATL offer a timely revival of this biting one-act satire by comic genius Elaine May.
Underneath the well-wrought exterior of this gratuitously convoluted, neo-noir drama is a conspicuous absence of heart, soul and meaning.
The world premiere of Meghan Brown's play seems less a futurist fantasy than a parable of life in a failed state turned patriarchal prison-house.
"Theater should be an intimate experience. It's supposed to feel dirty and rough."
This play reveals the power of theater when pared down to its rawest, most primal elements.
Those hoping for a memorable production of Beckett's existential classic will have to do what his infamous protagonists have done for decades: keep waiting.
Featuring Francis Guinan in his TimeLine debut, Githa Sowerby's unjustly neglected 1912 play is a bracing tonic against the notion of "the good old days."
The Conspirators update Dario Fo's 1970 farce "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" for the times we live in to excellent, albeit overstretched, ends.
This one-man show is Lenny Bruce in his truest form, his provocations from beyond the grave like pleas for decency in an increasingly indecent world.
While there's no more cautionary character for our day in the Shakespearean canon, gimmicky anachronism is no substitute for theatrical vision and professionalism.
A poignant and pertinent exploration of the pursuit of happiness.
Intelligently scripted, deftly directed, capably acted, this production is less than the sum of its well-crafted parts.
In an effort to bring its subject into the 21st century, this stylized adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's 1928 novel loses much of the original's austere power.
"In my heart of hearts, I've never left. I never will leave."
This morbid tragicomedy is unable to land its punchlines.
Lauren Gunderson's 2015 play comes off as the awkward love child of Jane Austen and Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Too affectionate to be satire and too broad to be drama, this world premiere can't decide what it is or what, if anything, it believes.
Inspired by James Joyce's "Ulysses," Steven Dietz's play is structured as a chord of simultaneity rather than a sequence of events.
As the corpses pile up, the question arises of what exactly is irritating Ionesco: human folly or human existence itself?
While clearly aimed at an older demographic, this world premiere will appeal to people of all ages interested in the still-relevant question of how to live life with poise, class and style.
This revival of Kate Fodor's 2003 play demonstrates the evil of banality at a time when fascism is once again on the rise.
This world premiere is a modern-day vision of hell that outstrips the imaginings of Dante or Hieronymus Bosch. It's also a comedy.
Millennial mores take center stage against the backdrop of intragalactic travel in this local premiere by MJ Kaufman.