The Stars are no longer Spangled

It is often said that a good actor can take the telephone book and make it seem dramatic. Well, right here in Seattle at 18th & Union Theatre, two comediennes Keira McDonald and Erin Stewart, dared each other to write a sketch comedy to open on Inauguration Day 2017…a day which was decidedly unfunny, yet they kept us falling in the aisles with laughter. This is no mean feat, given the terror/disgust/boredom which people have felt after this long presidential campaign. Since the script did not depend on sophisticated language, the comedy was all in the delivery-sometimes very subtle, by these two comic geniuses, who could make the simplest sentence, seem unbelievably funny.

O Brave New City that has such talent in’t

One of the occupational hazards of a theatre critic is seeing the same plays over and over again. This is especially true of Shakespeare’s more popular plays, particularly the romances, whose setting are the outdoors and are regularly staged at summer Shakespeare Festivals. Usually, the productions are draped in concepts and gimmicks but rarely do I go to a production, where the language occupies center stage and successfully carries the play. This weekend, New City Theatre, opened The Tempest, which should be the standard by which all other Shakespeare plays should be measured. All the actors were of the highest vocal caliber, and used the text expertly to communicate to the audience.

A Small Fire

Excellent production of “Situation Melodrama”

A Small Fire, by Canadian-born playwright Adam Bock, produced by Seattle’s Sound Theatre Company, at the challenging New City Theatre Space, opened this past weekend to sold-out audiences. The production itself was a testament to the outstanding talents of the actors, the director, Julie Beckman and especially the set designer, Montana Tippet, because the play itself was not up to the same standards as the production.

How Irish is my Father.

The Walworth Farce, by contemporary Irish playwright Enda Walsh, produced by New Century Theatre Company, opened at New City Theatre and was directed by the former’s artistic director, John Kazanjian. Like many Irish plays, it deals with fractured family relationships, exile from the old country, poverty, greed, violence and alcoholism, all played out in one bed-sit ( more or less a studio apartment) in the South London immigrant neighborhood of Elephant and Castle.