Clarkston @ ECHO THEATER COMPANY

In my twenty-five years of theater reviewing, time and again when I find myself less enthusiastic about a show, ninety-nine percent of the time the culprit is the writing. One would think that there’d be a higher percentage allocated for miscasting or poor direction, but that simply hasn’t been my experience. So often what I see is an imbalance: a strong production of an uneven or unremarkable play, which is frustrating for a critic. I want to highlight how great the performances were, how amazing the production is, but that praise is overshadowed by the issues within the play itself. And thus we come to the west coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s Clarkston by Echo Theater Company, which is beautifully acted. But as a piece of writing, the play seems thin and unconvincing. Read more…