Unlike horror movies, which want to scare the bejesus out of us, Lucas Hnath’s cerebral ghost story The Thin Place merely wants to creep us out and perhaps have us think about the possibility of an afterlife. Whether or not you are persuaded by this curiously structured play, which demands several leaps of faith by its audience and ultimately ends on theatrical gimmickry, … [Read more...]
Tight actorly quartet brings vivid life to Delray Playhouse’s ‘Doll’s House, Part II’
By Dale King The 20th century saw major feminist movements such as the suffragettes' quest for the right to vote in the early 1900s and the women’s liberation drive of the 1960s. The 21st century is following in its stead, dealing with complex matters such as the #MeToo movement, LGBTQ representation and questions of gender identity explored in a “woke” culture. … [Read more...]
The New York season: Irish drama ‘Ferryman’ leads play pack
Editor’s note: Each season, Hap Erstein heads to New York to see the new plays and musicals in advance of the Tony Awards, which are scheduled for this Sunday. All things considered, it was a good Broadway season for new plays, which are generally thought of as unwelcome compared to musicals. An epic play of the Irish Troubles, The Ferryman, has had a healthy eight-month … [Read more...]
Exemplary Maltz cast brings Ibsen up to date
Sequels are the all-too-frequent domain of the movies, but relatively rare in the theater except for Shakespeare and his history plays. Still, Henrik Ibsen seemed to be expecting a follow-up to A Doll’s House, with its famous final door-slamming ending, one of modern drama’s most renowned cliffhangers. What did happen to Nora Helmer after she walked out on her husband … [Read more...]
Nora’s back: Ibsen revisited, at the Maltz
In 1879, when feminist Nora Helmer – the main character in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House – slammed the front door and walked out on her husband and family, it is generally agreed that she opened another door, to the start of modern drama. Ibsen’s play ended there, but what happened to Nora afterwards, as she tried to forge a life as a single woman in a Norwegian society … [Read more...]