OMG. What sort of comic mayhem are Jeff Swearingen’s FunHouse Theatre and Film kids up to now? The current menu for huge helpings of hiccup-inspiring hilarity kicks in with a slight one-act comedy by Woody Allen called GOD followed by some rip-snortin’, fast-paced, actually interesting improvisation work by the Fun House improv troupe, Unicorn Clearance. … Continue reading
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Speed-dating at Fun House: A Shakespearean Debacle
Huge disappointment alert. Nobody in this arts community has been a more enthusiastic advocate of the productions mounted by Fun House Theatre in Plano than me. I knew they would eventually open a show that I could not give a positive review to in good conscience. Here it is, based on Romeo and Juliet‘s opening night performance. … Continue reading
Best of 2014 On Stage: the view from Criticalrant
“I operate on the premise that a theatre’s job is to prevent people from leaving their seats before the entertainment is over.” I concur wholeheartedly with Tom Stoppard, who uttered those words in … Continue reading
Those Guvmint Office Blues: FunHouse Theatre and Film’s “Mortgage”
Don’t let the grim title scare you away. Mortgage. The creative folks at Fun House Theatre and Film likes to come up with catchy one-word titles (like Stiff earlier this year) so they’re easy to remember. The titles don’t always have a lot to do with the shows, themselves. As in this one, running through … Continue reading
STIFF: Deadly tale of mirth & woe at Fun House Theatre and Film
Fun House Theatre’s Stiff riddle: what’s more fun than one stiff? TWO. Bawdy bodies, a dead drunk and a corpse. Scurrilous schemes. A manic play within a play, with a deadly 9-act script, sure to kill off a critic? Add Jeff Swearingen’s dandy pack of thespian lads and lasses to the mix with their tight … Continue reading
Petal-Plucking Princess Wars Please at Fun House Theatre
Youth theatre with a raw edge? Find it by the compost heap-full at Fun House Theatre and Film in Plano. Performing through May12th, this Sunday, Jeff Swearingen’s cadre of talented, dedicated mademoiselles present Daffodil Girls, his comic parody adaptation of David Mamet’s celebrated drama Glengarry Glen Ross and come out Olympic champs. Swearingen turns … Continue reading
Sugar & spice & not very nice? Fun House Theatre’s Daffodil Girls
Good times roll again at Fun House Theatre in Plano, starting this Tuesday May 7. Daffodil Girls will work its nefarious charms and prick up the neck hairs on an unsuspecting audience. Find it a down and dirty, accurately voiced parody of David Mamet’s 1984 Glengarry Glen Ross as the female members of Jeff Swearingen’s … Continue reading
Moonrock Around the Clock! FunHouse Theatre’s Ultimate Easter Experience
Crawl out from under your school desks and emerge from your nuclear bomb shelters…hop on over to FunHouse Theatre’s “Ultimate Easter Experience” one mo’ time this Thursday night 3/28 before that wacky satellite of whimsical hilarity returns to its wobbly orbit around the moon. It’s the eagerly anticipated “prequel” to the award winning, world-famous (in … Continue reading
Fun House Theatre’s HAMLET: An Unquestionable Triumph
That infamous Dane may dilly-dally around in Shakespeare’s play, but there’s nothing indecisive about Fun House Theatre’s production of “Hamlet”, nor with the production’s 15 year old lead Chris Rodenbaugh, plotting and fretting on barely contained “simmer”, waiting for the perfect moment to exact revenge yet unable to move from contemplation to consummation. Respectful and … Continue reading
Binders Full of Santas? FunHouse Theatre Fills Hearts to the Brim
It’s a cryptic, chilly, Cold War sort of Christmas Eve night in Ronald Reagan’s 1980’s world, and those ninja missiles of Star Wars defense, Santa’s reindeer, face a serious dilemma. Santa has fallen from the sleigh somewhere over the northern hemisphere but nobody noticed. Should they double back and try to locate the jolly old … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 