All the Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Invented The Villain created and performed by Patrick Page Directed by Simon Godwin DR2 Theatre February 10, 2024 Production website πππππ out of 5.
All the Devils are Here
This masterpiece of theatre takes its title from The Tempest, in which William Shakespeare famously wrote, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”Β And the magic of the night is that we get to see all of devils in Shakespeareβs world played out by Patrick Page, a master actor with one of the most beautiful bass voices with academically brilliant commentary in chronologic order.Β I loved it!!!Β Time flew in the theatre!Β The space was very small, the props and stage effects were almost non-existent – it truly was just the actor, stage and audience.Β As a one man show, it is much more than a mere collection of villain monologues; itβs a crash course in Shakespeareβshowing us how he created these corrupt, covetous, conflicted, and just plain evil characters, and how his villains evolved as he progressed as a playwright.
The Seven Year Disappear by Jordan Seavey Directed by Scott Elliott The New Group February 8, 2024 Production website ππ out of 5.
The Seven Year Disappear presents a performance art piece about a performance artist working to create a performance art piece about her relationship with she and her son.Β Cynthia Nixon, in the lead roll unexpectedly disappears at the very moment she is to have commission given to her by the Museum of Modern Art.Β The disappearance is for seven long years and leaves even her son puzzled as to its meaning.Β In his motherβs absence, he feels her presence in all of his/her friends, coworkers, strangers – and even the guy he is flirting with in a dark bar..Β Suddenly she pops up and expects the son to join her in being a part of her next piece as if she never left.Β Obviously, the son has a LOT of questions and a LOT of issues to solve with his mother. The play seems to want to explore motherhood, self-discovery, and the skeletons we keep in family closets.
Yira, Yira Co-Directed by Bruno Isakovic and Natisa Rajkovic Queer New York International Arts Festival at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYC February 7, 2024 Production website ππ out of 5.
Yira, Yira was more of a doc-theatre piece than an actual play. Co-directors Bruno IsakoviΔ and NataΕ‘a RajkoviΔ spent several months with four Argentinian sex workers, leading to their theater piece, Yira, Yira(Cruising, Cruising,) which reveals aspects of sex work and fights against some of the stereotypes we have.Β Performed by actual sex workers – 2 men, 1 woman, and 1 transvestite – we enter the world of sex work defined both by personal choice and circumstances. We also become aware that at the same time, we are talking about their work conditions in general, demand and supply, healthcare, and other benefits afforded to any other working person in Argentina.
Public Obscenities written and directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury Soho Reperatory at Polonsky Shakespeare Center February 6, 2024 Production website ππ out of 5.
Public Obscenities
Public Obscenities is one very big play coming in at over three hours. Our playwright involves as many themes, histories and possibilities as he can possibly put into the space given. Truthfully, this play would be best done as a mini series where all of the pieces could fit together and find their proper resolution. The play is at once to long for the audience and two short to wrap up all that it opens up.Β The play centers around a Bangla, American student, who has returned to his native India, for a oddly defined academic project at the PhD level in which he claims to want to study English, anthropology, performance, gender and cinema – – although how that all comes together for one PhD package is a bit hard to figure out.Β
Job The Play by Max Wolf Friedlich Starring Peter Friedman & Sydney Lemmon Directed by Michael Herwitz Connelly Theater February 5, 2024 Production website ππππ out of 5.
Have you ever seen a play and then wanted to tell a friend about it – – – but you just had to bite your tongue to prevent talking about the totally unexpected, yet perfectly prepared for ending.Β This play was so damn good but the end was the very best part.Β BUT you knew that if you told them the end, then the whole thing was ruined. That’s the way I feel about seeing Job. The play was terrific, but damn, if I am not tempted to tell you how the whole thing ended . . .
