Paul Birchall

≈ [ALMOST EQUAL TO] at City Garage Theatre

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw In addition to challenging the Stage Raw copy editing department with a title that uses one of those squiggly math signals, playwright Jonas Hassen Khemeri’s powerful drama embraces such a multitude of themes that it’s hard to adequately sum them up. One thing’s for sure, though: Donald Trump would hate … Read more

DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME ANYTHING BUT MOTHER at Atwater Village Theatre

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw The second in a set of two one-person plays, John O’Keefe’s Don’t Ever Call Me Anything But Mother may be that unique monologue that is literally unlike anything you’ve witnessed before — though whether it will beguile or appall you really depends on your mood and ability to deal with creepy darkness. Read … Read more

ADAM AND EVIE at City Garage

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Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly While I’m not familiar with all — or even most — of Charles Mee’s work, it’s a safe bet that Adam and Evie, directed by Frédérique Michel at City Garage, is one of his gentler, sweeter plays. Read more… Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw Love is madness, just as it is unique … Read more

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at Antaeus Theatre Company

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw Antaeus Theatre Company inaugurates their lovely new Glendale performance space with this tremendously stylish production of Tennessee Williams’ family drama. The play tells the story of a desperate woman named Maggie (the “cat” of the title) her depressed alcoholic husband Brick, and the battle for the estate of Brick’s father, … Read more

THE CRUISE – Latin Theater Company at Los Angeles Theater Center

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw A cruise ship is a metaphor for the world in microcosm.  All classes and strata of society live together within the boundaries of the little tin ship, which is surrounded by the nothingness of the great sea. Read more… Now running through April 19

PARADISE LOST: RECLAIMING DESTINY at Greenway Court Theatre

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw You don’t need to brush up on your Milton to enjoy this splendid adaptation of his great epic Paradise Lost, which tells the story of Satan’s consignment to Hell and Adam and Eve’s fall from Eden. Jones (Welsh) Talmadge, creator of this gorgeous and dynamic shindig, has crafted the work into … Read more

LUSTING AFTER PIPINO’S WIFE at Theatre 68

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw According to director/performer Ronnie Marmo, this production of Sam Henry Kass’s comedy is a 25th anniversary staging of a show that he remembers fondly from when he acted in it many years ago. To my mind, however, the play’s mix of calculatedly quirky romantic situations and abrasively eccentric characters has … Read more

SHADES OF DISCLOSURE at the Skylight Theatre

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Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw It’s not helpful to dwell on the generation gap between the young and the old, particularly in the world of LGBTQ folks. The young possess the great currency of youth — beauty, brashness, opportunity. By contrast, if capitalist culture markets to Queers at all, the older folks are shunted to … Read more