I took my 18 yo son to see Oliver! (Theater Latté Da and Hennepin Theatre Trust, performing in the exquisite Pantages Theatre, through March 1). During intermission, we had the following conversation: “Whaddaya think?” “I’m having a problem with the…
Author: John Olive
The Coward by Walking Shadow Theatre Company, performing at Red Eye Theater
I have never ever, in my exalted theatrical career, seen so much blood. The Red Eye stage is awash in it and, indeed, the raked set (a terrific design by Eli Schlatter) contains a trough, to catch the copious sanguine…
Death And The Maiden, a co-production of Torch Theater and Gremlin Theatre, at the Theatre Garage
This production of the oft-produced Death And The Maiden (Torch Theater and Gremlin Theatre, co-producing at the Theater Garage through Feb 21) begins with a prologue of sorts: Paulina Escobar (played with calm and statuesque fire by Stacia Rice) moves…
Gertrude Stein And A Companion at the Jungle Theater
How could Claudia Wilkens and Barbara Kingsley have played these roles in 1992, when the two actors were 14 and 12 years old, respectively? The characters Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas demand substance, solidity combined with lightness of touch,…
The Hothouse by Dark & Stormy Productions, performing at the Grain Belt Brewery
Dark & Stormy Productions performs Harold Pinter‘s giddily nonsensical The Hothouse in ye olde Grain Belt Brewery’s Atrium (79 13th Ave. NE, through Jan 4). D&S excels at utilizing “found” venues for their plays – empty offices, warehouse spaces,…
4000 Miles by Park Square Theatre
It’s those tell-tale hugs. Sweet, warm and tender, tension dissipating. Complete with comforting pats on the back: there, there. I think you’re just swell. I’m so glad you are who you are. Gosh. The hugs will clue you in: there’s…
The Whale by Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at Mixed Blood
The Whale, by Samuel D. Hunter (Walking Shadow Theatre Co., performing at Mixed Blood Theatre, through Dec 20), is a grim little play. In it, we watch Charlie, the eponymous whale, committing suicide by gluttony. In the years since his…
Grounded by Frank Theatre, performing at the Playwrights Center
“You are the blue,” the Pilot in Grounded (Frank Theatre performing at the Playwrights Center, through Nov 23) intones and we really feel it. Shooting and swooping and soaring through the sky, the freedom, the power of it. To be…
33 Variations at Park Square Theatre
Moisés Kaufman‘s 33 Variations (at Park Square Theatre through Nov 2) is a pool-of-light play. Played on a jumble of interlocking platforms, the play’s action takes place in apartments, offices, hospital waiting rooms, lecture halls, in New York, in Germany. Which…
A Steady Rain in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio
In the case of A Steady Rain (in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio through Nov 2), I must declare a prejudice: I dislike past tense material. Plays that depend on long set speeches about occurrences in the past violate, imho, ye…