The Method Gun (Rude Mechs)

If seeing experimental theatre is hit or miss, this was a miss. Full of silliness and empty of structure, its humor depends upon the audience having prior experience with acting exercises. The final scene with the swinging lamps was luminous.

See the New York Times article linked to this post's title for a useful assessment of Rude Mechs' creative project.

I won't pass on another opportunity to see this ensemble; I simply hope the production is less solipsistic.

Recommend. With caveats.

Iphegenie au Taurus (Gluck)

Another terrific live HD broadcast from the Met.

Highly recommend.

Diary of a Madman (adapted from Nikolai Gogol)

This excellent production revives Belvoir Street Theatre's 1987 adaptation of Gogol's 1835 story. Again directed by Neil Armfield, Geoffrey Rush brings his full-body interpretation of the low-level bureaucrat's descent into insanity. Though humorous, the enormous sadness of the play is never hidden away.

The artist talk with Russ, Armfield, and Caro Llewellyn was absorbing account of how the play developed.

Highly recommend.

The Lover (Pinter)

Commendable production of a highly provocative Pinter play.

Recommend.

Nixon in China (Adams)

Highly Recommend.

King Lear (Shakespeare)

A terrific Donmar Warehouse production broadcast by National Theatre. Derek Jacobi seemed slowly to reveal Lear's insanity, which in retrospect was there all along. Fantastic, believable, un-caricatured Goneril and Reagan--and the best Cornwall I've ever seen. The whole play revealed subtleties of a play I know well.

Highly recommend.

The Old Masters ( Simon Gray)

Recommend

White Material (Claire Denis)

Set in an unspecified sub-Saharan nation roiled alternatively, really concurrently, by corruption and rebellion, the film features Isabelle Hupert as an operator of a coffee plantation who stubbornly refuses to flee when chaos descends. Difficult to position her as the victim.

Recommend with this caveat: the films requires, but probably doesn't warrant, two viewings.

The Piano Lesson (August Wilson)

Fine performances of Wilson's searing examination of retribution and honor.

Highly recommend.

Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek)

Okay. Lots of narrative gaps (and gaffs).

Agnostic.

New Music New Haven

Recent works by six graduate students in composition as well as David Lang's sumptuous "pierced" made for a wonderful evening of new music.

Highly Recommend.

Another Year (Mike Leigh)

Ever wonder how a British director would interpret for the big screen a year in the life of Mike and Candace? Well, here it is.

Highly recommend.