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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Sizzle and Soul: TCTP’s Righteous SUMMER AND SMOKE
People tend to associate Tennessee Williams plays with pedantic required reading for high school English classes or as suitably relegated to university production where students “learn to act” through staging fusty, outdated Classics. How unfortunate. A worthy stage experience can transport an audience into an invented world of wonder and illumination, providing unanticipated insight into … Continue reading
“Blue Roses”: Lyric Stage’s Ethereal Launch
Blue Roses…Blue roses. Whisper the words aloud and imagine what those roses might look like. Fragile, haunting, tragic, illusory? When lyricist Mimi Turque plucked the words out of Tennessee William’s drama “The Glass Menagerie” to form the title of the adaptation she wrote with composer Nancy Ford, she hoped their collaborative endeavor would capture the … Continue reading
Lizard Love Lite: Iguana Nights at Contemporary Theatre
Gender power games, obsession, self-delusion, manic addiction and self-destructive compulsion, the wilds of nature v. the wilderness of civilization, all taking place in a shaken up world where the Germans have just invaded London. Scholars and critics consider Tennessee Williams’1961 drama The Night of the Iguanaone of his greatest works. Unfolding on the verandah of … Continue reading
Wingspan Theatre: Soaring in Creative Balance
It’s no secret that Dallas’ Wingspan Theatre has a smaller production season than many companies: one full-scale stage production, participation in the Festival of Independent Theatres at the Bath House Cultural Center, one staged reading of a new work. Entering its fourteenth season, the company has earned a sterling reputation and a loyal audience for … Continue reading
Five Tons & A Bird at the Greenzone
SEAGULL. When all you really want is to give life the bird. The play’s over! It’s over! ALL OVER! Well done, Mom. You totally fucked up my play. SATISFIED?— Alex What are you so angry about? — Maria Sans overpowering costumes. Sans rubber ferns. Sans foamcore scenery. Sans cheesy recordings of gunshots or train whistles. … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 