Reviews

ACT's 'Sweat' Reaches Its Emotional and Political Limit--Too Soon

Almost everything in Sweat is a product of subject matter and situation. Only at the edges of the drama do we get anything close to human imagination. You see glimpses of life in some of the minor characters: the drunk Jessie who just wants a kiss on her birthday; Evan, a parole officer with a surprisingly humane and realistic view of the world; and Brucie, Cynthia’s drug addled ex, who may be the most interesting character on stage and certainly the freest.

Thrust to the side of the primary story, these bit players have some room to breathe. And because of that they’re kind of fascinating. Or put another way: the further the play gets away from the central drama, the more it roils with actual life.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsOctober 12, 2018Lynn Nottage, 'Ruined', 'Sweat', Pulitzer Prize in Drama, ACT, American Conservatory TheatreComment

Marin Theatre Company's 'Oslo' Is Entertaining But Not Crazy Enough

I can’t help but think that there’s another play lurking in Oslo, nastier, more alive, less fair-minded, and memorable enough to force the most jaded of us to care. Because right now, in this Oslo, what we care about are negotiations. They could have been between East Timor and Australia, or a couple of boys trading baseball cards. There’s a way in which the Israelis and Palestinians are incidental to the entire experience.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsOctober 12, 2018'Oslo', J.T. Rogers, Marin Theatre Company, Oslo AccordsComment

Cutting Ball's 'Vanya' Tries Everything

What I’m going to say about Cutting Ball’s Uncle Vanya is completely unrealistic and unfair, but the problem here is rehearsal time and how theaters produce work. The production feels like a very well-rehearsed first draft, where everything was attempted and nothing rejected. You wonder what might have happened if they had spent an equal amount of time with a scalpel, paring closer and closer to the bone until every effect was either excised or found its way into the blood of Chekhov’s stunning play. There are pleasures here, but not enough discipline for real and sustained success.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsOctober 3, 2018Cutting Ball Theater, Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov, Exit TheaterComment

FACT/SF's 'death' Is Stunning, Sly, And Filled With Sorrow

Given the title of Charles Slender-White’s sly, beautiful immersive dance receiving its world premiere at CounterPulse for his company FACT/SF, you can’t help but think of a trip to heaven, but that’s a mistake of perception, of climbing stairs and finding yourself in the rafters looking down. death politely brushes aside those easy clichés of the afterlife. This is not going to be about our experience, our feelings, or our fears. It’s about souls that are radically different than ours.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsOctober 3, 2018FACT/SF, Charles Slender-White, CounterPulse, Dance, Immersive PerformanceComment

Anton's Well's 'dirty butterfly' is poetic, then something else

English playwright debbie tucker green’s dirty butterfly, receiving its Bay Area premiere with Anton’s Well Theater Company under Robert Estes astute direction, tries to radically represent two contrary modes of consciousness: the hazy symbolism of our imaginations and the horrid state of being alert to every aspect of reality.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsSeptember 26, 2018debbie tucker green, Anton's Well Theater Company, Robert EstesComment

Crowded Fire's 'Church' is Daring, then Fun

The whole effect is hypnotizing. Young Jean Lee places us in a position where we, the jaded non-churchgoing audiences of San Francisco and New York, wish for some aspect of a religious service. What’s nice is that she reminds us that with that wish comes responsibilities, morals, and an acceptance that we aren’t the center of the world.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsSeptember 24, 2018Young Jean Lee, Crowded Fire, 'Church', Experimental PlaysComment

Berkeley Rep’s 'A Doll's House Part 2' Misperceives Marriage

Those familiar with Lucas Hnath’s work know that it’s a real possibility that his Part 2 could challenge or even surpass Ibsen’s original. Both playwrights share a moral complexity and outrage that might come down to a simple equation: when it comes to people anything can happen.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsSeptember 24, 2018Lucas Hnath, 'A Doll's House Part 2', The Berkeley Rep Comments

The Aurora’s ‘Detroit’ is Serious Fare without Serious Artistry

The aesthetic failure of plays like Detroit 67 strikes a double blow. One, it reduces and harnesses the real world to mere sensation, empty emotions, and false gestures of importance; and two, in doing so it blinds us from worlds and thinking that we need to confront and understand. Sometimes there is nothing worse than good intentions gone wrong.I’d like someone to defend this play. If you feel like it, I’d love for you, unknown person, to challenge this review.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsSeptember 24, 2018Comment

Ubuntu's 'Pool of Wonders' Imagines the End of Trauma

The challenge Gotanda poses here is sharp and his ending beautiful, both the writing and the pared down lavishness of Michael Socrates Moran’s staging; nonetheless, the beginning of the play is uncertain both in tone and content.

Shotgun's 'Kiss' is laced with Acid

Guillermo Calderón’s Kiss isn’t a great play, but it’s a sharp one. In the Shotgun Players’ excellent production in association with Golden Thread Theater you’re going to feel the sting of its anger despite its loose and shaky ending scenes.

ReviewsJohn WilkinsSeptember 5, 2018The Shotgun Players, Guillermo Calderón, 'Kiss', Everen Odcikin, Golden Thread ProductionsComment