Title and Deed (Eno)

This fascinating production is the result of a close collaboration between Will Eno and Gare St Lazare, the theatrical company energized by Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett. 

Conor Lovett plays an unnamed someone "not from here."  The not-quite bare stage, the man's uncertain posture, and his hesitant delivery place the audience in an ambivalent position that wavers between sympathy and amusement. 

The talk-back with Lovett and Eno was intimate and revealing.

Highly recommend.

The Long Day Closes (Terence Davies)

A quiet film of long, still shots, little dialogue, familial affection, classroom brutality, and lots of rain.  (1992)

Recommend

The Tempest (Shakespeare)

This is the first Shakespeare play Darko Tresnjak has directed at Hartford Stage since he began Artistic Director.  And as such, it promises many interesting productions.

This production is most distinctive in its visual imagination, its most arresting moment occurring in the first few minutes when a sleeping woman and lengths of cloth become the prow and sails of a ship in a tempest-tossed sea.  The play also features dancers and an acrobat in the frequently omitted masque of Ceres. And the porthole at the back of the stage is effectively used, especially when the fathers peer at Miranda and Ferdinand playing chess.  As far as interpreting the play, this production takes no chances and offers nothing fresh.

Recommend.

My Children! My Africa! (Athol Fugard)

(We sat next to Allie Gallerani's family.)

Highly Recommended.

Medieval Play (Kenneth Lonergan)

Solipsistic silliness or sly satire? Either could be possible in Lonergan's Medieval Play, though the first scene goes a long way toward establishing the first possibility as the dominant one.  Despite certain lapses into (somewhat tedious) absurdity, the satire frequently cuts sharp.  By infusing the dialogue of his medieval characters with the locutions and sensibilities of Gen Y'ers, Lonergan persuasively argues for our inability to act outside our historical constraints, no matter how self aware we are, no matter how much we are able to think outside those constraints.  Energetic acting by Anthony Arkin and Tate Donovan playing the two knights, and a special nod to Heather Burns playing Catherine of Siena.

Recommend.

Bernie (Richard Linklater)

This film is often called "darkly comic," but from my perspective--I recognized everyone in the film--it is a sober-eyed look at life in small-town Texas, where everyone knows everything about everyone and yet everyone tries (unnecessarily--see the previous clause) to hide a (well-known) secret.  If the Carthage, Texas citizens weren't played by themselves, outsiders might deem them parodies.  They are not.

Great performances by Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey.

New Times Review.

Highly recommended.

The Caretaker (Harold Pinter)

 For a long while, I've loved the words "caretaker" and "caregiver" with their simultaneous invocations of both "taking care of/giving care to" and "taking/giving care." (For instance, when I returned to work after the birth of my second child, my advert didn't request a "babysitter"; instead, it requested a "caregiver," and I hired the first respondent who noticed that shift in wording.  It turned out to be an excellent strategy.)  Pinter draws upon these denotations as well as the connotations of a caretaker as someone relegated to minding that which needs to be minded but the rest of us don't want to fiddle with: buildings and grounds, the old and the infirm.

The Theatre Royal Both Productions/Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse production, directed by Christopher Morahan with Jonathan Pryce, Alan Cox, and Alex Hassell, drew on the black humor found in the pauses in the script and ambiguities of its language. Though some audience members found the humor misplaced (as revealed during the fascinating talkback with the actors), I found it to be an effective means for highlighting the despair.   

Like many, I find Pinter challenging, and I enjoy his plays more in retrospect than I do watching them.   Nevertheless, during this performance, I was held captive by the performances of all three actors and after the talkback wished for a chance to see a replay.

Highly recommended.

Isherwood's 5.6.12 NYTimes review

Headhunters (Morton Tyldum)

Great suspense film that achieves much of its effect by presenting the protagonist as a scoundrel whom the audience roots against.

Recommend

American Buffalo (David Mamet)

A terrific, persuasive performance. 

The 3rd in Elm Shakespeare Company's annual Kehler Liddell Gallery productions.

Recommend.

My Name is Asher Lev (adapted by Aaron Posner from Chaim Potok novel)

When I was in high school, Chaim Potok's novels introduced to me to Hassidism--in truth, Judaism.  Though I lived in the middle of the West Texas Bible Belt, I identified with the protagonists in both The Chosen  and My Name is Asher Lev as they struggled to understand how they could accommodate their their desires and inclinations with their native religion. 

Thus, I was naturally inclined to enjoy My Name is Asher Lev, a 2009 play derived from the 1972 novel. And I did.  It avoided being overly sentimental, and any gaps in the script were papered over by the excellent cast.

Recommend. 

Wall Street Chamber Players

Bach, Trio Sonata in C major, BWV 1037
Mozart, Piano Quartet in E-Flat major, K 493
Brahms, Trio in B major, Opus 8

Recommend

Gatz (Elevator Repair Service, based on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby)

We'd been hearing about Gatz from friends since it first appeared in the states a couple of years ago.  The premise sounds improbably: a reading of every word--and only the words--of Fitzgerald's novel.  6 hours. Every word. Yikes!

Believing in the good judgment of friends, we tried it any way.  And what a wonderful confirmation of their recommendations. 

Set in a nondescript warehouse office, it begins with a clerk picking up the novel and reading it aloud while he waits for someone to come repair his computer.  Gradually, other office workers are drawn into the reading and they begin to act (and speak) the parts, until the first guy becomes Nick, and the others become the other characters in the novel.  Difficult to describe, but not at all difficult to become absolutely engaged by.

Highly recommend.

Ritorno d'Ulisse In Patria (Monteverdi)

Another reason why I love living in New Haven: seeing amateurs perform a Baroque opera because they love opera, not because they plan to become professions.  Hurray for Ellen Rosand's Yale undergrads. We'll be back for next year's production.

NYTimes review

Recommend.