An excellent play well done.
View More LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Quintessence): Love and desire and hateTag: Josh Carpenter
THE BROKEN HEART (Quintessence): Dark matter
Melancholy John Ford was more ‘himself’ and less ‘Shakespearean’ than other less bold Cavalier dramatists.
View More THE BROKEN HEART (Quintessence): Dark matterHANDLE WITH CARE (Montgomery Theater): 60-second review
HANDLE WITH CARE is brilliantly seasoned with humor—the type found when differing cultures collide.
View More HANDLE WITH CARE (Montgomery Theater): 60-second reviewDOCTOR FAUSTUS (Quintessence): If you want to know everything, go to hell
A remarkably original and gloriously entertaining version of the Marlowe play.
View More DOCTOR FAUSTUS (Quintessence): If you want to know everything, go to hellSAINT JOAN (Quintessence): The Maid’s new clothes
George Bernard Shaw’s play is presented in rich tonalities of color, light, positioning, and sound. It is wide awake.
View More SAINT JOAN (Quintessence): The Maid’s new clothesTHE MANDRAKE (Quintessence): A Machiavellian sex satire
What could be so funny in a play written nearly 500 years ago? There is something for everyone to either laugh or balk at in this bawdy production of a play by Machiavelli.
View More THE MANDRAKE (Quintessence): A Machiavellian sex satireROMEO AND JULIET (Quintessence): What fray was here?
In the eyes of director Alexander Burns this doomed romance never stood a chance.
View More ROMEO AND JULIET (Quintessence): What fray was here?THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Quintessence): Swordplay and horseplay combine in a breezy adaptation
As always with an Alexander Burns production, imagery is rife, props are creative, and jokes come as much from sight gags as from dialogue.
View More THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Quintessence): Swordplay and horseplay combine in a breezy adaptationMACBETH (Arden): Rare emotion and rarer straightforwardness [critical mass review #5]
The elements which displease other writers are what makes this production a success, according to Michael Fisher in review five of the ongoing Critical Mass series.
View More MACBETH (Arden): Rare emotion and rarer straightforwardness [critical mass review #5]MACBETH (Arden): Numb from the neck down, well almost [critical mass review #3]
Jessica Foley gives this week’s critical mass take on MACBETH at the Arden, part of a new review series on Phindie.
View More MACBETH (Arden): Numb from the neck down, well almost [critical mass review #3]MACBETH (Arden): Fast but not furious [critical mass review #2]
Alexander Burns’ production of MACBETH at Arden Theatre Company is energetic and visually engaging, but it lacks ferocity and substance.
View More MACBETH (Arden): Fast but not furious [critical mass review #2]MACBETH (Arden): Bloody bold and resolute [critical mass review #1]
Burns maintains the energy and pacing of his best work for Quintessence and takes full advantage of the Arden’s high production values to create an exuberant and understandable version of Shakespeare’s masterpiece.
View More MACBETH (Arden): Bloody bold and resolute [critical mass review #1]GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Arden): Exceeds all expectations
With a perfect combination of passion, pride, storytelling, and imagination, the Arden Theatre Company’s production of GREAT EXPECTATIONS is a thrilling night of theater.
View More GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Arden): Exceeds all expectationsINCORRUPTIBLE (Arden): Laughter in the monastery
The set of Michael Hollinger’s witty INCORRUPTIBLE looks like it has been there for hundreds of years, transporting one back to the days of monks…
View More INCORRUPTIBLE (Arden): Laughter in the monasteryMOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (Quintessence): America’s Ghosts Return to Haunt
There are plenty of things to thrill over in Quintessence Theatre Group’s stirring, and impressively-performed, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA. Director Alex Burns and his well-picked ensemble continue to impress.
View More MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (Quintessence): America’s Ghosts Return to HauntSHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (Quintessence): A contemporary 18th-century comedy
SHE STOOPS is an 18th-century comedy of manners and mistaken identities by Oliver Goldsmith. It is considered by many to be the most enduring of…
View More SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (Quintessence): A contemporary 18th-century comedyHAMLET (Quintessence): Brevity is the soul of it
Hip, fast-paced, with a frat-boy-cool lead: these aren’t usually phrases to describe HAMLET. But Quintessence Theatre Group’s heavily edited version takes a bare bodkin to Shakespeare’s story of revenge and existential crisis in the state of Denmark.
View More HAMLET (Quintessence): Brevity is the soul of it