This is not the admiring smirk or a contemptuous Ha-ha!, but fall-off-your-chair, eye-mopping hilarity.
View More THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (1812): Fall-off-your-chair hilarityTag: Sean Close
HOPE AND GRAVITY (1812 Productions): “Even the lightest things come crashing back down to earth.”
There are many good comedies out there, but not many where the weight of tragedy crests and wanes beneath the laughter.
View More HOPE AND GRAVITY (1812 Productions): “Even the lightest things come crashing back down to earth.”THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS (1812 Productions): New year same targets
Thom Nickels asks why the same people always get satirized.
View More THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS (1812 Productions): New year same targetsA MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Arden): Take pains, be perfect
Shakespeare made simple, and simply fun.
View More A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Arden): Take pains, be perfectTHIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS: THE ELECTION SPECIAL (1812 Productions): Yuugely funny
Ho boy, it’s been quite the election cycle. Thankfully, Philadelphia has 1812 Productions to ease the pain with its annual satirical show.
View More THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS: THE ELECTION SPECIAL (1812 Productions): Yuugely funnyTHE COMEDY OF ERRORS (Del Shakes): 60-second review
The emphasis is on the physical comedy in David Stradley’s production
View More THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (Del Shakes): 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 clothesTHIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS (1812): The tenth anniversary of an annual favorite
This year’s installment of the annual politically-incorrect political comedy skewers the presidential candidates and brings some welcome laughs to a troubled week
View More THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS (1812): The tenth anniversary of an annual favoriteTHE 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?Renegade’s STORIES AND SPIRITS settles down with a drink and a good book
Novels and cocktails are two of the best things in life. STORIES AND SPIRITS combines them in a one-off evening of drinks and performances.
View More Renegade’s STORIES AND SPIRITS settles down with a drink and a good bookTHE 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 adaptationALICE’s ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (Quintessence): Mystifying appearances and disappearances, levitations and mysterious goings-on at Mount Airy’s Sedgwick Theater
For the latest installment in their tradition of performing literary family classics for the holidays, Quintessence Theatre Group brings ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and its parade of beloved batty characters to Sedgwick Theater.
View More ALICE’s ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (Quintessence): Mystifying appearances and disappearances, levitations and mysterious goings-on at Mount Airy’s Sedgwick TheaterRichard II (Quintessence): Let us sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings
RICHARD II is a richly rewarding play, full of insightful and startling verse, but you might want to read a synopsis before seeing this production.
View More Richard II (Quintessence): Let us sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kingsAS YOU LIKE IT (Quintessence): Do you not know I am a woman?
Burns and his cast humanize Shakespeare’s characters and provide a smart, jolly time that is tinged with genuine sentiment.
View More AS YOU LIKE IT (Quintessence): Do you not know I am a woman?MACBETH (Commonwealth): 60-second review
MACBETH is a violent play, a feature emphasized by the contemporary military garb and extended fight choreography in the worthwhile production by Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company.…
View More MACBETH (Commonwealth): 60-second reviewTHE MISANTHROPE (Quintessence): What’s not to like?
I hope one day to see (and understand) a Moliere play in the original French, though as I’m not doing anything about that desire except…
View More THE MISANTHROPE (Quintessence): What’s not to like?Paradise Park (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy): Men in Dresses
If your favorite part of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was the creepy boat ride or if you even remember that scene with a tingle of…
View More Paradise Park (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy): Men in Dresses