Boston Playwrights’ “Brawler” Comes Looking for a Fight

March 8, 2018March 8, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Brawler’ – Written by Walt McGough. Produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in collaboration with Kitchen Theatre Company. Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara. Scenic Design: Christina Todesco. Lighting Design: Evey Connerty-Marin. Sound Design: Andrew Duncan Will. Costume Design: Penney Pinette. Movement and Fight Choreographer: Misha Shields. Presented by and at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre 949 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, through March 18

It all comes back to the Greeks. The culture that gave us the theatrical art form is perhaps also the one that had the noblest intentions with how that art form could be wielded. For the ancient Greeks, theater was a method for examining the societal problems of the day. Audiences of those original tragedies watched the kings and queens on stage making terrible decisions and dealing with the havoc that was then wrecked upon the community. Presenting these issues in a public sphere allowed the audience to ask, “If this is what can happen, then what do we do about it?”

Speakeasy’s ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ Is Simply Brilliant

March 8, 2018March 8, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

Every Brilliant Thing – Written by Duncan MacMillan; Directed by Marianna Bassham; Scenic and Lighting Design by Eric Levenson; Sound Design by Lee Schuna; Costume Design by Amanda Ostrow Mason (costumes). Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through March 31^st.

Every Brilliant Thing, now being given its Boston premiere by Speakeasy Stage Company, is brilliant alright, but much more so for its simplicity rather than as a work that presents BIG IDEAS. Performed by the (brilliant in her own right) Adrienne Krstansky, along with what seemed to be fully half of the audience, this seventy-minute piece is a sneakily moving comedy about that most mirthful of topics – suicidal depression.

Friendship and Politics Rumble in “Guards at the Taj”

March 7, 2018March 8, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

“Guards at the Taj” – Written by Rajiv Joseph; Directed by Gabriel Vega Weissman. Presented by Underground Railway Theater at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge through April 1.

A few years ago I drove to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Words can’t begin to describe how magnificent it was – I wanted to live in its shimmering beauty and sleep in its shadow. Hard to imagine how brilliant the Taj must have looked at its unveiling in 1648, but luckily, we don’t have to – we can see it reflected on the faces of Humayun (Jacob Athyal) and Babur (Harsh J. Gagoomal) in Underground Railway’s fantastic, funny, and tragic production of Rajiv Joseph’s “Guards at the Taj”.

Lawton Shines in Lyric’s Gender Bending ‘Orlando’

March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

From the novel by Virginia Woolf; Adapted by Sarah Ruhl; Directed by A.Nora Long; Scenic Design by Richard Wadsworth Chambers; Lighting Design by Steven McIntosh; Costume Design by Steven McIntosh. Presented by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston at 140 Clarendon St., Boston through March 25

At a time when the lines of gender identity are becoming increasingly blurred (in some corners anyway), the production of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando certainly seems like a natural choice for the Lyric Stage’s opener for the second half of the 2017-2018 season. Adapted by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, who also wrote last season’s gut-busting Stage Kiss (also at the Lyric) – arguably the best comedy of last season on any Greater Boston stage – Orlando makes for an entertaining evening, thanks in part to the charms of its enchanting lead, Caroline Lawton.

The Underlings Theatre Co Sends Shakespeare Back to High School

March 2, 2018March 2, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by James Wilkinson

‘Romeo and Juliet’ Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Lelaina Vogel. Voice and Text Coaching: Daniel Thomas Blackwell. Scenic Design: Christine Williamson. Costume Design: Rachael Linker. Lighting Design: Evyn Newton. Sound Design: Joshua Garcia. Presented by Underlings Theatre Co. at Chelsea Theatre Works Black Box Theater through March 3.

Do I even need to provide a summary of the plot to Romeo and Juliet? The details of Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers has seemingly seeped down into the marrow of western civilization. Try as you might, you can’t escape it. Even if you managed to somehow get through high school without reading the original text, you would be forgiven for thinking you knew the story by seeing any of the hundreds of adaptations and riffs on the story in movies, books, operas, television, ballets, musicals, and just about every other form of media out there. The ubiquity of the story in popular culture creates an interesting problem for any theatre company that might decide to take a stab at staging the play. How do you present a play when everyone in attendance thinks that they already know everything? It’s a challenge that the recently formed Underlings Theatre Co has taken up with their new production of the classic play, now running at Chelsea Theatre Works.

ART’s ‘The White Card’ is Very White, Indeed

March 2, 2018March 2, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

The White Card. Written by Claudia Rankine. Directed by Diane Paulus. The World Premiere of American Repertory Theater’s production, presented by ArtsEmerson , 559 Washington Street, Boston, MA through April 1.

Wealthy New Yorkers and avid art collectors Virginia and Charles (Patricia Kalember and Daniel Gerroll) have, through their colleague Eric (Jim Poulos), invited artist Charlotte (Karen Pittman), to dinner, in the hopes of purchasing some of her work for their illustrious collection. Charlotte, who is the only black person at the dinner, is making a name for herself creating photographic re-enactments of racist crimes. Charles and Virginia, well-intentioned white people, collect art on this very subject, thinking it the essence of the black experience.

In Apollinaire’s Winter Solstice, the Chill Runs Deep

March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 michaelhoban3 Comments

by Mike Hoban

Winter Solstice – Written by Roland Schimmelpfennig; Translated by David Tushingham; Directed by Brooks Reeves; Sound Design by David Reiffel; Costumes by Elizabeth Rocha; Set and Lighting Design by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Presented by the Apollinaire Theatre Company, Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea through Mar. 11

When I was younger, many of my left-leaning friends and acquaintances would casually throw out the word ‘fascist’ to describe an authority figure or institution whose opinions or policies differed from what we thought was right. Later, during the Obama years, those on the far right would casually refer to the president as a Nazi – usually for something like wanting to pass Obamacare and theoretically take away people’s right to choose their own doctors. The inappropriate application of such extreme terms in both cases has served to greatly diminish the former effectiveness of these terms when it comes to calling out what is now going on politically in the U.S. and globally – the rise in increasingly aggressive neo-fascist activism and its subsequent effect on governing bodies. This has not happened overnight, but instead has been a creeping contagion that is slowly being normalized in all forms of media – whether intentionally or unintentionally – and the idea that “It Can’t Happen Here,” is being debunked on an almost daily basis.

New Rep’s “Ripe Frenzy” a Startling, Provocative Drama

February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Samantha Richert (left) and Stacy Fischer (right). Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

By Michele Markarian

Ripe Frenzy – Written by Jennifer Barclay. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. Co-Produced by Boston Center for American Performance and New Repertory Theatre, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Studio ONE, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA through March 11.

The arrival of Jennifer Barclay’s exceptional play Ripe Frenzy in Boston could not be timelier. For anyone affected by America’s spate of school shootings, particularly in the wake of the recent one in Florida, Barclay intelligently and thoughtfully puzzles her way through some of our deepest thoughts and fears without being didactic. It’s a heartbreaking piece, alternately tense and tender, that offers no answers, which is oddly and honestly comforting.

Sleeping Weazel Provides an Intimate Winter Escape

February 21, 2018February 21, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

A Winter Gathering – Production Designer: Mirta Tocci. Lighting Designer: Colin McNamee. Sound Designer: Oliver Seagle. Presented by Sleeping Weazel at the BCA Black Box, 527 Tremont St. Boston, through February 24^th.

When I walked into Sleeping Weazel’s production of A Winter Gathering, I had been awake for thirteen hours and had probably spent about a good third of that time staring at my phone. Not for any sort of emergency purpose, just the regular checking of email, Facebook, text messages and blogs that has slowly grown to be the new normal of daily activity. I went into the theater space with the sort of addled static brain feeling that comes from spending so much time with your eyeballs glued to the glowing screen of a handheld device.

Trinity’s Modern Day ‘OTHELLO’ Brings Energy and Vitality to Classic

February 21, 2018February 21, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Trinity Repertory Company’s newest production of their 54th season is “Othello” by William Shakespeare. This show is about friendship and betrayal, love and jealousy. Once Othello’s most trusted confidante, Iago’s envy-fueled passions unleash a betrayal with catastrophic results for Othello and his beloved bride, Desdemona. Shakespeare’s profound tragedy is an enduring story of race, love, envy, gender inequality and repentance. This stripped-down retelling is the portrait of an unraveling mind amid a society engulfing and destroying its very best.