Penning a stage review of the eminent play THE GLASS MENAGERIE by Tennessee Williams makes me feel like a humble commoner staring into my modest closet’s thrift store contents after receiving an invitation to an audience with the Queen of England. Overwhelmed. Will I reach inside and draw out anything worthy and credible, up to … Continue reading
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Best on the Boards: DFW Theatre Critics Forum 2015
Another year of outstanding D/FW thespian endeavor rolls by. Herein I post the decisions arrived at by the Dallas-Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum after three hours of deliberation, negotiation, advocacy and munching David Novinski’s delicious gluten-free brownies to finish our potluck meal at Martha’s. I’m stoked by the diversity and quality of performance art in … Continue reading
Stranded in Love & Execution at Circle Theatre
Somehow, Shakespeare always gets away with it. Whether viewing long-lost siblings reunited or lovers cast awry under a woodland spell, his audiences can always leap over the hurdle of suspension of disbelief to follow along contently. Playwright John Strand doesn’t make the leap happen effectively, in Lovers and Executioners, currently running through September 19th … Continue reading
2013-14 DFW Theater Critics Forum Awards
Some of these shows I did not see. A number I would not honor with awards. EVER. I am disappointed that neither Ochre House’s Christhelmet (directed by Matthew Posey) nor Diana Sheehan’s Full Gallop or her sophisticated cabaret, Searching for Gertrude Lawrence at WaterTower Theatre met the critical popularity threshold. I am quite thrilled for other wins. Call it a draw…. Direction: … Continue reading
Go Boeing-Boeing Bonkers @ WaterTower Theatre
If you attend WaterTower Theatre’s production of “Boeing-Boeing!” watch out for the Sirens. Bewitchingly sexy babes with sultry curves everywhere, luxuriant eyelashes, come hither smiles that beckon enchantment and deep-throated voices promising heaven on earth…. Greek Homer’s hero Ulysses got The Word on the Sirens straight from snake-haired goddess Circe’s mouth. He had to sail … Continue reading
Moses Gone Down: Circle Theatre’s “The Whipping Man”
Circle Theatre presents Matthew Lopez’s first play, the critical triumph The Whipping Man, about two former slaves and their former master’s son observing a most unusual Passover at the conclusion of the American Civil War. Seriously? Jewish African-American slaves during the Civil War? Scholars verify that about 50,000 Jews lived in the South as the … Continue reading
Circle Theatre: Secrets of a Soccer Mom
Kathleen Clark has had several plays produced by the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, starting back in 1986. Her 2003 play Secrets of a Soccer Mom is not one of them, for good reason. It’s a cliché and stereotype driven hodge-podge of superficiality, presenting three women’s attendance and participation in their children’s soccer game as … Continue reading
Best of 2011: On Stage in North Texas
Reflecting on North Texas’ stage performance in 2011, I take pride in recognizing the region’s senior directors. They bring immense creative vision and studied, practiced, pragmatic understanding of their craft to the arts community. They inspire performers, critics, advocates and patrons, alike, to “keep after it”, even as we have less than a 9% share … Continue reading
Lost in Panto-land: Circle Theatre
There’s a real art to writing and mounting children’s theatre. That’s why there are companies that specialize in both, why beaucoup sums of sponsorship funds get solicited to assure the genre’s continued success. It’s not something to be tossed off lightly or thrown up on a whim. Overly clever, hyperkinetic, absurdist adult satire and children’s … Continue reading
Becky’s New Car @ Circle Theatre
Guest review by Lance Lusk of D Magazine There’s an old saying that goes: “When a woman wants new shoes, she wants a new career. When she wants a new house, she wants a new husband. And when she wants a new car, she wants a new life.” Ft. Worth’s Circle Theatre spins the new … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 