Criticalrant Aloud discussion of the October 19 screening of The National Theatre Live at the Barbican HAMLET, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, by North Texas arts writer/O’Neill and Annenberg critic fellow Alexandra Bonifield with North Texas regional actor and Bard Buff R. Andrew Aguilar: “Shakespeare’s language is the closest thing we have to the verbal language of … Continue reading
Tagged with Angelika Film Center …
No Waiting for Mendes’ Lear @ National Theatre Live
Within the first ten seconds that National Theatre Live’s “King Lear” opens on the screen, minus any credit roll or “Tour London Now” commercial distraction, Simon Russell Beale storms through immense leaden upstage center doors into the austere, militaristic, shadowy set like a mad bull on a rampage and snatches the ominous, dread-filled scene by … Continue reading
CORIOLANUS: NT Live’s Gruesome Heart-throb
A mystery at a National Theatre Live screening? When I attend and review the NT Live performances at Dallas’ Angelika Film Center, I generally find myself one of eight silent people in the auditorium. Walking into a full house, wall to wall people, on a Saturday afternoon to see the NT Live showing of Shakespeare’s … Continue reading
August, Osage County: Cliff’s Notes Version
Remember Cliff’s Notes? The ultimate cheat-sheet style study guides designed to “present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online” in condensed format? Frowned upon by serious literature professors, they offer a superficial overview of great literary work without depth or nuance. They exist as the sort of panacea a time-challenged or … Continue reading
Lithgow Dazzles in National Theatre Live’s “The Magistrate”
Guest review by Jason Kane: Urban legend holds that a famous actor’s last words were “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” Did anyone attending those sage last words respond with “Have you tried farce?” While comedy can succeed in a fluid, malleable presentation, the slightest error in timing can ruin good farce. That distinction makes … Continue reading