THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #87: A Delicate Balance, Aurora Theatre Company, September 13.
Show #91: Phaedre, Shotgun Players, September 24.
By Sam Hurwitt
“Happy families are all alike,” Leo Tolstoy writes in Anna Karenina; “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Two classic examples are on display at two Berkeley theatres, both of which are celebrating...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #93: Once in a Lifetime, American Conservatory Theater, September 28.
By Sam Hurwitt
American Conservatory Theater has kicked off its season with an oddity: Once in a Lifetime, a revival of a 1930 Hollywood satire by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the writing team much, much better known for the...
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THEATRE REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #92: Honey Brown Eyes, SF Playhouse, September 27.
Show #90: Night over Erzinga, Golden Thread Productions, September 18.
By Sam Hurwitt
Genocide is a tough nut to crack. The unimaginable excesses of war are exactly the sort of thing that theatre should address and explore, but it’s hard to know...
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Show #88: Joy with Wings, Chaucer Theatre, September 14.
Chaucer Theatre gets non-Chaucerian for the first time with cofounder Becky Parker’s solo show about her loving relationship with her mom. Is this a good idea? Well, I’ll tell ya over in today’s Marin Independent Journal.
Joy with Wings runs through October 6 at the Alcove...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #81: Star Trek: Live! The Way to Eden, the Dark Room, September 3.
By Sam Hurwitt
The Dark Room in the Mission hosts a variety of comedy events, solo shows and Bad Movie Nights, but it really seems to have a yen for pop culture homages. The last time I was...
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THEATER REVIEW: MOUNTAIN VIEW
Show #79: Sense and Sensibility, TheatreWorks, August 28.
By Sam Hurwitt
Jane Austen is far from dull. Even if you don’t give a damn whether or not the daughters of rich families that have seen better days are displaced from their palatial estates or manage to land respectable husband for themselves, Austen’s...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #86: Unveiled, Brava Theater, September 11.
By Sam Hurwitt
If you’ve been anywhere near any kind of media, you probably noticed that this past Sunday was the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. San Francisco Opera’s Heart of a Soldier aside (which I haven’t seen), there wasn’t much going on...
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THEATER REVIEW: BERKELEY
Show #73: The Road to Hades, Shotgun Players, August 6.
By Sam Hurwitt
The Road to Hades looks like it must be a fun show to be in—a big ensemble romp with a lot of singing and clowning around. The entire Shotgun Players 20th anniversary season is made up of commissioned world premieres,...
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THEATER REVIEW: ORINDA
Show #75: Candida, California Shakespeare Theater, August 13.
By Sam Hurwitt
From Mrs. Warren to Joan of Arc, George Bernard Shaw adored his strong women characters, and was fierce in his condemnation of the gender inequality in Victorian society. His 1895 play Candida takes an interesting approach to this concern, using the situation...
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THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #74: Peaches en Regalia, Wily West Productions, August 12.
By Sam Hurwitt
Wily West sure does seem to like “en” titles. Its last show was Stuart Bousel’s Juno en Victoria, and now Peaches en Regalia by Play Cafe founder Steve Lyons, on the eve of his move to Washington state. That’s...
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