Irresistible Candy Heart: Even Pre-Tweens Love Raggedy Ann and Andy
That doll stumbled on a word or two. It was cool how Marcella flipped the cubes around to change […]
Theater Schmeater
Fatal Footlights
Historical Fiction about Great Theatrical Figures
Billed as a “new Steampunk mystery/comedy/thriller, an original script, by Louis Broome and John Longenbaugh, Fatal Footlights opened at Theater Schmeater on Friday. Steampunk, the internet told me, has to do with 19th century historical fiction and technology. Fatal Footlights concerns murder and intrigue in an 1885’s theatre in London. Apparently, two of the characters are members of the Brass family and the play was part of a series about them, so the Artistic Director communicated to me the next day.
Techlandia
Gigabites of Giggles
Seattle’s most beloved comic, Bridget Quigg, opened her new show, Techlandia, a tribute to all that we love and hate about the technological evolution of Seattle , on Friday at Theater Schmeater. For those of us who have been around the tech revolution for more than 25 years and are perhaps married to the first generation of “geeks” it was nothing short of therapeutic laughter.
In Arabia We Would all Be Kings is a Cautionary Tale
Mr. Guirgis has a gift for dialogue, The Ear. It’s bar and street dialogue, what you might hear in Hell’s Kitchen in New York in the late 90s, where this play is set. The language is rhythmic, even poetic at times, yet grating to middle-class sensibilities. Theater Schmeater’s Director Julia Griffin says the characters resonate with her and the script has been “living in her” for over ten years. With this northwest premiere of In Arabia we would all be Kings she has fulfilled her vision quite well.
Four Dogs And a Bone is a Snarly Delight
What Theater Schmeater has done with John Patrick Shanley’s 4 Dogs and a Bone should be enshrined as a movie. It begs for permanence so that one can return and savor its delights. Alas, this sharp, biting, witty, and funny gem is theater, not a movie, so go see it live. Be alert to all the clever funny nuances director Julie Beckman unearths in the script. This isn’t too hard, when the audience laughs or gasps—that’s your cue to join in.
Who are the four dogs, what are they fighting for and what are they fighting over?
A Subversive and Succulent “Feast”
“In a dining room, not so far from where we are sitting now…” is the setting for MAP Theatre’s
Oh Seattle!
Laughter Unlimited at the Schmee
One sign of mental health for both individuals and societies is the ability to laugh at themselves. It shows a healthy acceptance of one’s flaws and strengths as well as a healthy acceptance of reality. In Seattle, it helps all of us deal with the smugness, the Republican driven city council agenda disguised as bleeding heart liberalism, enlightened diet of the month, wacked-out theories of child-rearing, alternative this, alternative that and all the other agendas floating around Seattle.
The Secretaries
The “Girls” at Work are Not What You Expect.
As a compliment, Oscar Wilde would not call The Secretaries, which opened at Theater Schmeater, “a well-made play”. Although sometimes referred to as Surrealist, I would call it Expressionist. That is to say, it does not rely on realism, nor a structured plot, but rather creates a lot of extremely emotionally-charged images, as it ambles through the “initiation” period of a new secretary, in the all-female office of a lumbering company in rural Oregon.
The Twilight Zone: Live!
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space
Seascape
Homo sapiens discuss life and art with Lizards
Edward Albee’s play Seascape opened at Theatre Schmeater this past weekend. Written in 1975, it seemed incredibly dated, but dealt with one of Albee’s favourite themes, conflicts between married couples. However, in this play the conflict is not of the pathological alcohol-induced variety, as in his more famous play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, but rather the problem all couples go through at mid-life when they have to reassess their own individual lives in relation to their married lives.