THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #106: Totem, Cirque du Soleil, October 28.
By Sam Hurwitt
Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil produces such a steady stream of shows that either take root in Vegas or tour indefinitely around the world that we get a new one passing through the Bay Area every couple of years. In 2009 it was...
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THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #114: Endgame and Watt, Cal Performances, November 17.
By Sam Hurwitt
Dublin’s Gate Theatre knows Samuel Beckett backward and forward, having done full retrospectives of all the great Irish modernist’s plays more than once. The Gate does a lot more than Beckett, of course—it’s also well known for its Pinter productions—but its...
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Show #112: A Man, His Wife, and His Hat, AlterTheater, November 12.
I reviewed AlterTheater’s commissioned world premiere of a Lauren Yee play in today’s Marin Independent Journal, so hie thee over yonder to check it out.
A Man, His Wife, and His Hat runs through December 4 at 1414 Fourth St., San Rafael. http://altertheater.org
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THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #110: The Internationalist, Just Theater, November 6.
By Sam Hurwitt
“People are always more appealing when they’re unintelligible.” That’s what Sara says to Lowell in Anne Washburn’s play The Internationalist. It’s a pithy quote, but the play doesn’t necessarily prove it true.
Lowell is an American businessman just arrived in an unnamed Eastern...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #107: Sticky Time, Crowded Fire, October 29.
By Sam Hurwitt
There’s a Willie Nelson song that asks, “Ain’t it funny how time slips away?” The funny thing about Crowded Fire Theater’s new world premiere Sticky Time is that time in it slips all over the place, refusing to stick at all. Written...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #98: Day of Absence & Almost Nothing, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, October 14.
By Sam Hurwitt
Longtime American Conservatory Theater actor Steven Anthony Jones opens the first season he’s programmed as the new artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the Bay Area’s foremost African-American theatre company, with a double bill of two...
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THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #97: How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, October 12.
By Sam Hurwitt
Playwright Bill Cain has explored Shakespeare and the Gunpowder Plot in his hit play Equivocation and Iraq War atrocities in 9 Circles, both at Marin Theatre Company last year (and Circles is also playing...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #105: Race, American Conservatory Theater, October 27.
David Mamet’s play Race is a fine example of truth in advertising. It’s a play about race, and pretty much nothing but race. A powerful old white businessman has been accused of raping a young black woman, and he’s looking to switch law firms...
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Show #108: Pelleas & Melisande, Cutting Ball Theater, October 30.
I reviewed the Cutting Ball Theater’s new translation of the Symbolist classic for today’s Marin Independent Journal. So hie thee hence to read all about it.
Pelleas & Melisande runs through November 27 at EXIT on Taylor, Taylor St., San Francisco. http://cuttingball.com
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THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #104: Desdemona, Cal Performances, October 26.
By Sam Hurwitt
Toni Morrison’s play Desdemona came out of a bargain of sorts with director Peter Sellars. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist convinced Sellars to direct Othello in New York two years ago, despite the fact that he was under the impression that he hated that play,...
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