10 Dates with Mad Mary is playing upstairs at a favored watering hole, Fergie’s Pub. The show was so popular last year that it’s back!
View More 10 Dates with Mad Mary (Inis Nua): A real piece of work returnsAuthor: Kathryn Osenlund
TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Beach blanket Bard
There’s a lot of Twelfth Night going around in the Philadelphia area, all different. The Wilma conjures a fresh seaside setting. A dock moves forward.…
View More TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Beach blanket BardTWELFTH NIGHT (Lantern): Some are born great
Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night (1599-1600), one of his few fantasy plays, immediately before he penned his incomparable Hamlet (1600-1601). As Artistic Director Charles McMahon describes…
View More TWELFTH NIGHT (Lantern): Some are born greatRADIO GOLF (Arden): Hearts on one side, heads on the other
A crippling honesty and family ties mark August Wilson’s Radio Golf, a play that flows with humor along with sharply incisive dialogue and a clever story line.
View More RADIO GOLF (Arden): Hearts on one side, heads on the otherTHE TEMPEST (Quintessence): Full of magic
There’s magic and mystery as wonderfully costumed characters come alive to dance, sing, cavort, wrestle, draw swords, threaten violence, and show mercy
View More THE TEMPEST (Quintessence): Full of magicCAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (Walnut Street Theatre): A thinking play
Introducing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as “a thinking play,” Tennessee Williams wrote to his audiences: “I want to go on talking to you…
View More CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (Walnut Street Theatre): A thinking playWaiting For Lefty (Quintessence): On the side of angels but not art
This show has history. Odets, a voice for his disinherited generation was born in Philadelphia.
View More Waiting For Lefty (Quintessence): On the side of angels but not artEvery Brilliant Thing (Arden Theatre Company): 60-second review
Scott Greer has the audience suffering with him, then happy for him. It seems this story could have been his personal history. He owns it that much.
View More Every Brilliant Thing (Arden Theatre Company): 60-second reviewThe Tattooed Lady (Philadelphia Theatre Company): Tattoo as metaphor, tattoo as tattoo
Boisterous, joyful, defiant, and a little bawdy, the show may have a sketchy contraption of a plot, but you don’t go to a musical expecting Hamlet.
View More The Tattooed Lady (Philadelphia Theatre Company): Tattoo as metaphor, tattoo as tattooDEATH OF A DRIVER (InterAct): 60-second review
Faced with bureaucratic nonsense or official missteps, who hasn’t said ‘fuck the government’ or a more genteel equivalent? The multi-ethnic East African Kenya Colony gained independence in…
View More DEATH OF A DRIVER (InterAct): 60-second reviewTHE GLASS MENAGERIE (Arden): Revisiting the famed memory play
Tennessee Williams had been writing since he was a teenager, and by the time he was 30 years old he was getting nowhere. His early…
View More THE GLASS MENAGERIE (Arden): Revisiting the famed memory playTHE CHAIRS (Quintessence): 60-second review
Due to the pandemic, it had been many months since I’d visited the Sedgwick Theater in Germantown. October 1 was opening night for The Chairs…
View More THE CHAIRS (Quintessence): 60-second reviewROMEO AND JULIET (OJ Productions): 2022 Fringe review
It’s a tragedy that more audiences will not have a chance to enjoy the production.
View More ROMEO AND JULIET (OJ Productions): 2022 Fringe reviewLATE NIGHT SNACKS FAMILY SHOW (Bearded Ladies): 2022 Fringe review
Okay: A drag queen show for children.
View More LATE NIGHT SNACKS FAMILY SHOW (Bearded Ladies): 2022 Fringe reviewWatching THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY (OUT-CRY) by Tennessee Williams
This play-within-a-play about a play takes place on the Bluver Theatre’s tiny stage, brightly lit, although called dim by the characters. The audience, up close…
View More Watching THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY (OUT-CRY) by Tennessee WilliamsRomeo & Juliet in a Bar (Shakespeare on Tap): 2022 Fringe review
A little bit naughty at times, semi-Shakespearean lingo is mixed with a good deal of TomFoolery.
View More Romeo & Juliet in a Bar (Shakespeare on Tap): 2022 Fringe reviewFOOD (Geoff Sobelle): 2022 Fringe review
Unless you know Geoff Sobelle’s other works, you’ve never seen anything like this.
View More FOOD (Geoff Sobelle): 2022 Fringe reviewNOT RIGHT NOW (James Christy): 2022 Fringe review
There are many, many moments that become stories.
View More NOT RIGHT NOW (James Christy): 2022 Fringe reviewLooking Back: An early Pig Iron production
ames Joyce is Dead And So Is Paris was presented at Christ Church Annex in Old City in 2003. It was something else!
View More Looking Back: An early Pig Iron productionLooking Back: Two works by Thaddeus Phillips
In today’s edition of my look back on theater from years past, I remember two Thaddeus Phillips works from 2015 and 2017: Alias Ellis Mackenzie and A Billion Nights on Earth.
View More Looking Back: Two works by Thaddeus Phillips