In his book Group Psychology and the Analysis of Ego, Sigmund Freud defined libido as “the energy….of those instincts which have to do with all that may be comprised under the word ‘love.” The play My Husband’s Wild Desires Almost Drove Me Mad, playing through the end of March at the Arctic Playhouse, explores libido […]
The theatrical trilogy has a long pedigree, reaching back as far as Aeschylus’ Oresteia. We, as a collective audience, have now come to expect stories to come in threes. Whether it is Wagner, Lucas, Tolkien, Coppola, Simon or McDonagh, it seems that three is the magic number, even if that final installment gasps across the […]
The touring production of the beloved The Sound of Music, now being performed at Providence Performing Arts Center, is an unqualified triumph. The singing is first-rate, the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are all gems, and the show looks fabulous, from the sets to the costumes. Kerstin Anderson is an enormously likable and attractive Maria, who […]
In a season that included a prom combined with Pride and Prejudice, a meaty discussion on censorship and a piece that examined how we look at our bodies, Epic Theatre is about to open The Italian Wife, an adaptation from local nationally known best-selling author Ann Hood. So how does a story like this fit […]
Not five minutes into the new “sci-fi” play Sans Everything, a very lanky, very nude and very bearded man rolls onstage after being mysteriously birthed via a very industrial looking curtain. Wordlessly, he takes his first staggering breath and starts to acclimate himself to this strange new world where the only sound is the repetitive […]
Playwright Martin McDonagh has often been described as “one of today’s most important living Irish playwrights,” a fact that casts a certain air of solemn gravitas and formality to the proceedings. That is, unless you have seen Gamm’s latest black-as-pitch comic triumph A Skull in Connemara, an absurdist and endlessly fascinating play that lifts a […]
Director Alfred Hitchcock once said he enjoyed playing the audience like a piano. That quote came to mind while watching the Players’ new production of A Murder Is Announced. Based on an Agatha Christie potboiler, this twisty thriller toys with the audience like a finely tuned musical instrument. Letitia Blacklock (Becky Minard) is shocked when […]
You’ve got to hand it to the creative team behind A Midsummer Night’s Dream: They obviously went all out to create a show with tremendous beauty and style. Featuring a cast of talented thespians from Brown University, this latest incarnation of the Shakespeare classic works best as a meditation on love and desire. A series […]
Festival Ballet Providence’s season finale of their popular Up Close On Hope is an evening of remarkably vivid storytelling. With heavy doses of gut-wrenching drama, this program is not for the faint of heart, for indeed when the final piece reaches its tragic conclusion, gasps are heard throughout FBP’s intimate Black Box Theatre followed by […]
This is the fourth in a series of interviews where Epic artistic director Kevin Broccoli interviews other ADs in the area to create a more in-depth conversation about theater in Rhode Island. This month’s interview is with OUT LOUD artistic director Kira Hawkridge. Kevin Broccoli: My last interview was with Jonathan Pitts-Wiley, who also grew […]