Tag: Review

Apollinaire’s ‘Prudencia Hart’ a Rare Theatrical Find

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by Nicholas Whittaker

‘The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart’ – Written by David Greig. Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Music Direction and Sound Design by David Reiffel. Stage Manager/Choreographer: Christie Lee Gibson. ASM: Robin Mackey. Costume Design. Elizabeth Rocha. Set/Lighting Design: Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Dialect Coach: Christopher Sherwood Davis. Box Office Manager: Nina Weiss. Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company at Chelsea Theater Works through May 4th.

            When one walks into the theater for The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, they should be forgiven for thinking that they were in the wrong place. Rather than standing before a standard stage, one finds themselves surrounded by long wooden benches and stools, with a beer-and-wine stocked bar to one side. The cast loudly sings traditional Scottish melodies in the corner, and the buzzing room feels more like a warmly-lit tavern than a playhouse minutes before a show begins. This kind of transformational power is the calling card of Apollinaire Theatre Company’s production, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. With tremendous wit, elegance, and bawdy energy, the play rethinks the theatrical and dramatic tradition, combining the past and future in a thrilling exploration of the power and complexity of narrative.

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AKA Theatre Doesn’t Play it Safe with ‘Extermities’

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(Alissa Cordeiro in AKA Theatre’s “Extremities’

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Extremities’ – Written by William Mastrosimone. Directed by Alexandra Smith. Scenic/Properties Designer: Erin McCarthy. Costume Designer: Heather Oshinsky. Fight Choreographer: Jessica Scout Malone. Presented by AKA Theatre at First Church Cambridge through April 13

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d entered Sam Shepard country. The playing space for Extremities, AKA Theatre’s new production, just feels a bit off in the way that recalls the plays of the late American master. The furniture looks dated and is sparsely placed around the stage. There’s very little in the way of color or a sense of life. The one houseplant visible has lost most of its leaves and is barely hanging on to what’s left. An ashtray, half-full with cigarette butts, sits on the coffee table. There’s a kitchen set-up off to the side with a gas burner stove that looks like it has seen better days. You just can’t quite put your finger on what’s causing the sense of foreboding in the air (eventually we’ll learn that the play takes place in the early 1980’s….Take that however you want…). When the characters eventually come onstage, even they seem to have walked right out of a Shepard play. There’s a fast-talking farmhand (complete with cowboy belt buckle) with a grin a mile wide that just makes your skin crawl. Something dangerous is on its way.

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Sleeping Weazel Lets the Women Speak

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(Veronica Anastasio Wiseman, Graciela Femenia Tully, Judith Nelson Dilday, Raijene Murchison, Alex Casillas, Luz Lopez, Louise Hamill Sleeping Weazel’s ‘The Audacity: Women Speak – Photo:David Marshall)

by James Wilkinson

‘The Audacity: Women Speak’ – Conceived and arranged by Charlotte Meehan. Directed by Tara Brooke Watkins. Video Design by Elliott Mazzola. Scenic Design: Rita Roy. Lighting Design: Bridget K. Doyle. Costume Design: Mirta Tocci. Presented by Sleeping Weazel in Nicholas Martin Hall at the Boston Center for the Arts through April 6.

There are two elements to The Audacity: Women Speak, Sleep Weazel’s new multimedia production, that I think rather perfectly sum up its goals for the audience. The first is a visual motif created by lighting designer Bridget K. Doyle. A patch of light will come up on an empty spot on the stage, one of the seven women who comprise the cast will enter said space and then they begin to speak. Although it may seem like an incidental detail, the order of that sequence is vital to what they’re doing. The second element comes about halfway through the show during a barrage of video clips featuring the current Commander in Chief making sexist remarks as far back as the eighties and as recent as his presidency. As the clips play, the woman on stage begin to groan. First in frustration, then it rises to anger before finally, they’re filling the space with their screams. Something is being released.

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Merrimack Repertory Theatre Presents a ‘Haunted Life’

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(Tina Fabrique, Caroline Neff, Raviv Ullman, Vichet Chum, Joel Colodner in MRT’s “The Haunted Life” – Photo by Meghan Moore)

by James Wilkinson

‘The Haunted Life’ – Written by Sean Daniels. Based on the book by Jack Kerouac. Directed by Sean Daniels and christopher oscar pena. Scenic design: James J. Fenton. Costume Design: Sarita Fellows. Lighting design: Brian J. Lilienthal. Sound Design: David Remedios. Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre at 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell through April 14

The crime novelist Elmore Leonard once published his ten rules for writing fiction, which he said could be summed up with the sentiment, “If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.” The decree worked fine for Mr. Leonard, whose sparse action-driven style gave his novels a pop of energy, but I’d argue that sometimes the power of a novel can hinge on when the writer indulges in the bits that sound like writing. Case in point, Jack Kerouac. If you’ve never had the joy of making your way through his best-remembered book, On the Road, I’d encourage you to go ahead and take the plunge. It took me a few attempts before I was able to properly sync up with Kerouac’s wavelength, but when I finally managed to crack that nut, it paid dividends. Kerouac’s prose vibrates with a poetic energy seemingly driven by an obsessive need to capture something that constantly eludes his grasp. It’s the thrill of being alive. Of being in the moment. Just as it seems like he’s nailed it, the image slips away. The language works itself up into a frenzy before finally bursting forth with some of the most achingly beautiful prose you’ve ever heard, at once hypnotic and intoxicating. Or at least, it is for the reader of the novels.

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AKA Theater’s ‘Extremities’ is Tough, Terrifying and Thrilling

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(Padraig Sullivan as Joe and Alissa Cordeiro as Marjorie in “Extremities” – Photo credit:Ashley Yung )

by Nicholas Whittaker

‘Extremities’ – Written by William Mastrosimone; Directed by Alexandra Smith; Produced by Kelly Smith. Stage Manager: Karlie Fitzgerald. Fight Choreographer: Jessica Scout Malone. Props Designer: Erin McCarthy. Costume Designer: Heather Oshinsky. Lighting Consultation: Hunker McKee, Ben Moll. Fireplace Construction: Ben Lieberson. Presented by Also Known As Theater at Margaret Jewett Hall in First Church, 11 Garden St. Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 through April 13

“Cinematic” is a suspect way to describe a stage play, seemingly forgetting the clear distinctions between the two mediums. And yet, Also Known As Theater’s production of Extremities is nothing short of cinematic, in the best possible way. Extremities manages to rethink the possibility of live theater, capturing the crackling energy and painful brutality seemingly possible only on the screen while remaining true to the fundamentals of stage performance. That such an exercise is backed by a wildly clever (if slightly politically outdated) script, a willingness to dig deep into the complexities of sexual assault, female trauma, and masculine violence – bolstered by an extraordinary cast – makes Extremities required viewing.

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THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The year is 1939 and the audience is transported back to Atlanta and the biggest thing at that time in United States was the premiere of “Gone With the Wind” but not to some of the folks there. The most important thing was the top social event for elitist German Jews called Ballyhoo which surpassed the startling news of Hitler’s invasion of Poland that sparked World War II. This is the basic premise for “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” which is the second show of Renaissance City Theatre Inc.’s 19th season at the Granite Theatre. It also points out how people should accept their shared heritage and not hold wealth or social position above everything else. Director David Jepson casts this show with 7 strong performers who display the acting prowess necessary to carry off this well written roles.

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Tension and Healing in “Cardboard Piano”

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(Rachel Cognata, Marge Dunn, Michael Ofori and Marc Pierre in New Rep’s ‘Cardboard Piano’ – Photos by Andrew Brilliant, Brilliant Photography)

by Michele Markarian

‘Cardboard Piano’ – Written by Hansol Jung. Directed by Benny Sato-Ambush. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through April 14.

Adiel (Rachel Cognata) and Chris (Marge Dunn) are young lovers – Chris is sixteen – who have planned a makeshift wedding ceremony for themselves on New Year’s Day, 2000, in the church in Uganda where Chris’s missionary dad is pastor. The young woman are very different – Adiel is comfortable with her sexuality, Chris is not (“Fuck around in my house of worship and I’ll throw a bolt at your head,” Chris says in God’s voice, when thunder and lightning abound outside). Chris’s parents have found out about her and Adiel and are very upset, to the point where Chris has drugged them and stolen their car keys so that she and Adiel can escape. After saying their vows into a tape recorder, Chris and Adiel are interrupted by a young man of thirteen, Pika (Marc Pierre), who brandishes a gun and threatens to kill Chris. Pika is wounded, and Adiel insists on taking care of him before they leave. After dressing Pika’s wound, Adiel goes to her aunt’s house to say goodbye and grab a suitcase. Pika, an abducted child soldier, tells Chris that he has committed sins too atrocious for even God to forgive (“I’m a terrible soul and so He has forgotten about me”).  Chris insists that God will forgive, and on the same tape recorder used to record her “marriage”, creates a healing for Pika that absolves him of his sin. But Pika is wanted, and a young soldier (Michael Ofori) comes to the Church looking for him. Instead he finds Adiel, returning with a suitcase. A scuffle ensues, Pika commits one more atrocity, and then, when he discovers the true nature of Adiel’s and Chris’s relationship, commits another.

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Porkalob’s ‘Dragon Lady’ a Class Act

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(Sara Porkalob in ‘Dragon Lady)

by Linda Chin


‘Dragon Lady’ – Creator & Performer: Sara Porkalob, Director: Andrew Russell; Lighting Design: Amith Chandrashaker; Sound Design: Erin Bednarz; Original Music: Peter Irving, Band: Hot Damn Scandal, Assistant Director: Michael Rosegrant, PSM: Kate Hauser. Presented by the American Repertory Theater as part of the A.R.T. Breakout series at Oberon, 2 Arrow St. Cambridge through April 6

Sara Porkalob is a multi-hyphenate wonder: a Filipinx American activist-feminist and actor-writer-singer-producer-director-storyteller. Let’s add educator to this 29 year old’s list, as experiencing her remarkable show Dragon Lady is akin to taking a master class. A master class from a superhero, that is, as in this tightly crafted show written in homage to her grandmother, Porkalob the Wonder Woman takes us on a journey through time and space. Each vignette in Dragon Lady reveals part of Maria Porkalob Sr.’s life story – working in a nightclub owned by the Philippine mafia, immigrating to America, raising five children in a trailer park, sharing time-honored wisdom with her granddaughter Sara – and each is a pearl.

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Flat Earth Introduces You To…’Not Medea’

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(Juliet Bowler in Flat Earth’s ‘Not Medea’)

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Not Medea’ – Written by Allison Gregory. Directed by Elizabeth Yvette Ramirez. Set Design: Ben Lieberson. Costume Design: Elizabeth Krah. Props Design: Jake Scaltreto. Lighting Design: Connor Van Ness. Sound Design/Composer: Kyle Lampe. Graphic Designer: Jake Scaltreto. Presented by Flat Earth Theatre at the Black Box at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown through March 30

The levels of irony present in the title of Allison Gregory’s play, Not Medea, are truly awe-inspiring. The play is currently being staged by Flat Earth Theatre and even now, a few days after having seen the show, I’m still marveling at just how perfect a title it is (there’s more to the production than the title, but it seems as good a place as any to start). For you see, the production we’re seeing is, quite literally, not Medea. At least, it’s not Euripides’ ancient Greek drama, Medea. Gregory’s play, however, does follow the story of Medea, albeit from a slightly different angle. Here we meet a woman who is…not Medea, but whose story begins to run parallel to the Greek Medea to the point where the lines between the two begin to blur and intersect. So while, yes, this might not be the Medea we’ve previously encountered, it’s a modern-day Medea that is of our own time in the way that Euripides’ play was of his.

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‘Photograph 51’ Takes a Molecular Look at Science of Relationships

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(Josh Gluck and Stacy Fischer in Nora Theatre’s ‘Photograph 51’)

By Michele Markarian

‘Photograph 51’ – Written by Anna Ziegler. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Kristin Loeffler, Scenic Designer; Chelsea Kerl, Costume Designer; Elizabeth Cahill, Sound Designer; Aja M Jackson, Lighting Designer. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge through April 15.

Rosalind Franklin (Stacy Fischer) came of age as a scientist during the 40s and 50s, when it was unusual for young women to pursue such a path. 1951 finds the x-ray chrystallographer in a research lab at King’s College, London, where she is assigned the task of working on x-ray diffraction (don’t panic; there is a wonderful glossary of terms in the show’s program). Franklin finds herself in a boys’ club, where her colleague, the awkward Maurice Wilkins (Barlow Adamson) decides to dine in the male-only dining room on his new lab partner’s first day, rather than accompany her to lunch. Unsurprisingly, this gets them off on the wrong foot. 

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