Neal Weaver – Arts In LA In the 1940s and 50s, British playwright Terrence Rattigan was considered an important playwright, scoring successes in both England and the U.S. with The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, Separate Tables, and other works. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way “Loneliness is a terrible thing, don’t you agree.” That sentiment is … Read more
Jenny Lower – Stage Raw Separate Beds, a relationship comedy by that lacks the absurdity of a farce and the insight of a drama, may stir self-recognition among a few long coupled audience members. (If so, you should get yourself to a marriage counselor right away.) Read more… Now running through June 19
Not so much a ‘whodunit’ as a guilty cover-up, Sheriff’s stuffy old mystery A Shred of Evidence plays like a trip back in time to quaint 1950s England. Sheriff begins with a small action — the switching on of a radio — that completely alters the course of his central character’s life. A morning news report of a nearby … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Those of us raised in Jewish families will recall (with a mix of fear and affection) that larger-than-life figure known as the Jewish Grandmother, a towering being known for her boundless love and her connection to a past now lost in the murky fogs of time. Read more… Now running through … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Like the cupcakes in her story, playwright Lisa Dillman’s American Wee-Pie may be too sugary for some palates. It was for mine. Read more… Now running through April 13.
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw While it probably isn’t quite accurate to say that performer Salome Jens saved my life, I prefer to believe that it’s true. After an evening and morning of obliterative obsession, attending her one-woman show about Anne Sexton didn’t seem like the most propitious choice under the circumstances, but I already … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw In the middle years of the 20th century, Terrence Rattigan (1911-1977) was perhaps England’s most important playwright. (Noel Coward was in a state of temporary eclipse, though he would experience a triumphant resurgence a few years later.) Rattigan specialized in genteel, conventional well-made plays, but his skill and his talent for … Read more
Neal Weaver – ArtsInLA Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell put it this way: “Ignorance is like a delicate, exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Wilde clearly intended this to be fatuous nonsense, and a dig at the intellectual pretensions of the upper middle class. But Frank, the hero of this Willy Russell play, … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw One thing the theater is particularly good at is exploring the ramifications of an argument, be it interpersonal, philosophical or political: Simply look at the works of George Bernard Shaw or David Hare. Hugh Whitemore’s take on the subject of the validity of Christianity or any religion is called God Only … Read more
Neal Weaver – Arts In LA Prolific playwright Lucille Fletcher is best known for the suspense drama Sorry, Wrong Number—which began life as prizewinning 1948 radio play, starring Agnes Morehead, and in 1950 was made into a film noir that garnered an Oscar nomination for its star, Barbara Stanwyck. Fletcher’s Night Watch is also a suspense drama, in which … Read more