The Master Builder (Henrik Ibsen)

This disturbing Ibsen play resonating with many early-21st-century concerns. The central character's creepy predations are exaggerated by the production's (obviously purposeful) stilted acting: despite his contention that he wills his own fortune, he seems incapable of behavior that is neither manipulative or fear-based. The ending, which could be seen as his failed effort to finally overcome those fears, can also be the consequence of Hilda's will and her revenge for the MB's molestation of her a decade earlier. Recommend

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

The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer (Michael Sturminger)

Purportedly premised on the memoirs of Jack Unterweger, a late-20th-century Austrian serial killer, the production combines the grotesquery of the criminal's clever justifications for his crimes with the lush beauty of late-18th tragic opera.   Why the two are combined is never made fully clear.  Visually, the two are connected when Unterweger attacks and strangles the two singers.  Conceptually, the second seems to be fantasy of his life as a tragic work of art in which some are doomed (through no fault of the artist) to die.
With John Malkovich as Unterweger.
Outrageous, yes. Yet, I'm still not certain this production lives up to its hype.

The Internal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer (Michael Sturminger)

Featuring John Malkovich as Jack Unterweger, an Austrian serial killer. Strange hodge-podge of classical music and rant without any center.

Disappointing.  Recommend with reservations

The Nightingale and other works (Stravinsky)

A visually stunning production by Canada Opera Company and Robert LePage of several, very compelling short works by Stravinsky.

Very 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 Hard Nut (Mark Morris, choreographer)

To get a sense of the magic infusing this re-conception of that hoary old holiday chestnut, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, see the photo on Macaulay's review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/arts/dance/13nut.html?src=twrhp .

This production hasn't been in NYC for several years, with Berkeley, CA getting those honors. We saw The Hard Nut the last time it was at BAM, but I don't think I fully appreciated just how wonderful it is. Perhaps having seen a more traditional version the afternoon before helped place it in context. Whatever the reason, don't miss this if ever you get the chance to see it.

Highly, highly recommend.

Throne of Blood (Ping Chong)

Commissioned by BAM and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this mixed media work provided no new insight on either Shakespeare's Macbeth or Kurosawa's film. Complete waste of time and effort.

Avoid.

Creditors (August Strindberg)

After seeing Donmar Warehouse's excellent production of Red, I keenly anticipated seeing Donmar's production of Strindberg's seldom performed play, Creditors. By using a new translation stripped of the archaisms of older translations, Alan Rickman directed a play that felt timeless without being contemporary. Motives and emotions are stripped bare, and the audience--in its role as voyeur--becomes as complicit in the betrayals and destructions as the characters.

Highly Recommend.

Quartett, Heiner Muller

Director Robert Wilson and actress Isabelle Huppert were enough to entice us make the mad drive from New Haven to Brooklyn during late-afternoon traffic. I'm not convinced the evening was worth the effort.

The primary difficulty was my limited French. Yes, there were supertitles, but our excellent seats meant I couldn't see both the stage and read the text at the same time. And because Wilson's stylized production sought to divorce what the audience saw from what the audience heard (which I guess is what I experienced in the extreme), I had difficulty grabbing ahold of anything.

I feel so plebian, so philistine.

Recommend. Sorta. With Caveats.

The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov

Mesmerizing production by Sam Mendes. (See more at notes on Winter's Tale.)

Highly recommend.