The Normal Heart is an heroic production about a group of young men in New York City in the midst of the early 1980s AIDS crisis. Do not dismiss this as “old news.” It is not intense because of fireworks on stage, highly emotional performances, or even lots of shouting. Its intensity washes over the audience […]
Government shutdown, government shmutdown Fie! Fie I say to the government. A plague on both your houses! For the past two weeks, we have run into snags in our lives since the U.S. Government shut down. Some people even lost jobs. Public outrage has grown as we see more and more poignant pictures of elderly […]
Doubt as a philosophical concept has a bad reputation in traditional religion, and its advocates have tended to be heretics and apostates. Voltaire, one of history’s most famous agnostics, said, “Doubt is disagreeable but certainty is ridiculous.” Rarely has that aphorism been more eloquently expressed than in John Patrick Shanley’s play Doubt: A Parable, a […]
There hasn’t been a full-blown, well-publicized presidential assassination attempt in quite some time (Motif’s publisher would very much like us to point out that this is a good thing). No president goes unthreatened, though, and the misfits portrayed in Sondheim’s Assassins have good company in the similarly pathetic brethren who have challenged the existence of […]
There are two plots running parallel here. The first involves a Latino Afghanistan war vet, Elliot (Zach Rufa) and his older cousin Yaz (Ivy Alphonse-Leja). Why we’re supposed to be interested in them is not clear; plot-wise the only relevant reason is that Elliot wants to bury his aunt and doesn’t have enough money to […]
Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC) has launched their 2013-14 season with a top-flight production of Les Misérables, which opened in previews on October 2 and runs until October 27. This Les Misérables has a lot of spirit and soul and takes audiences on an emotional and worthwhile journey through life and death, hope and despair, […]
“The world comes to Providence” on Thursday, October 3 when Festival Ballet Providence presents Together We Dance 3. For one night only, dancers from some of the world’s leading ballet companies will share the stage with FBP. This remarkable evening of dance features performers from five different companies representing more than 10 countries. Now in […]
What latent dreams lurk behind well-to-do complacency? The desperation behind every neatly mowed lawn and white picket fence has been explored in all manner of media, pointing to one irrefutable conclusion – we all have hidden desires to climb out of whatever pigeonhole we’re in and explore our secrets. As a wise man once said […]
Epic Theatre Company offers a black comedy by Martin McDonagh Cutting off hands evokes numerous metaphorical allusions beyond inherent squeamishness, ranging from the Gospel of Matthew to Llamas with Hats, but it’s puzzling what playwright Martin McDonagh intends by introducing us in his opening scene to Carmichael (Dave Pizzelli), who has not only been looking […]
Fear is the watchword for The Gamm’s 29th Season opener with a unique double-bill that pairs two masterful works from the celebrated Caryl Churchill. A Number and Far Away share many qualities, but for all of their near-futuristic, science-fiction horror and vague portents of forthcoming dystopian muck, the chief fear emanating from the audience was […]