Photo: Mark Douet.

Rules for Living

London,
The family Christmas dinner. Now, most adults know the risks involved with such a major event on the annual calendar. Some people go to considerable lengths to escape it all and avoid the unnecessary squabbles with mum and dad, rows  ...
Photo: Charles Erickson

Small Mouth Sounds

San Francisco,
Broad Stage, Santa Monica, January 11-28, 2018 AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas, January 31-February 4, 2018 Arsht Center, Miami, February 16-March 4, 2018 Philadelphia Theatre Company, March 13-April 1, 2018 “Small Mouth Sounds” is an extraordinary play that is  ...
Photo: Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Imaginary Comforts

Berkeley,
Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, author of the wickedly gothic children’s books, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” is presenting his first play, the amusing “Imaginary Comforts, or The Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit” in its world premiere  ...
Henry Godinez as Don Quixote. Photo: Joe Mazza.

Quixote: On the Conquest of Self

Chicago,
We are the authors of our own lives, mostly figuratively, but exceedingly literally in Writers Theatre’s energetic production of Mónica Hoth and Claudio Valdés Kuri’s Quixote: On the Conquest of Self, translated into English by Georgina Escobar and based on  ...
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The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

San Diego,
The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, a one-man show featuring James Lecesne as multiple characters, has an intriguing setup. Fourteen-year-old Leonard Pelkey has been reported missing, and detective Chuck DeSantis must figure out what happened to him. The  ...
Photo:Cheshire Isaacs.

Blasted

Berkeley,
Those who think that the primary purpose of theatre is to provide a light and entertaining evening out should be aware that playwright Sarah Kane’s one-act drama, “Blasted” is anything but that. Rather, it is an intense, painful experience, full  ...
Hamlet (John Douglas Thompson, right) is visited by the Ghost of his father (Steven Anthony Jones) | Photo: Kevin Berne

Shakespeare’s Hamlet

San Francisco,
ACT’s new production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is a long evening, with moments of poetry and power interlaced with periods of static and sluggishness. John Douglas Thompson is often mesmerizing as the Danish Prince Hamlet, and he is supported  ...
Phil Johnson (Barney) and Sandy Campbell (Jeanette) in

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

San Diego,
A middle-age man, who runs a seafood restaurant and drives a Buick in the Age of Aquarius, clumsily tries to join the sexual revolution in “Last of the Red Hot Lovers.” Barney Cashman (Phil Johnson, in a boffo performance)  ...
Phylicia Rashad. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Head of Passes

Los Angeles,
What on earth does “Head of Passes” mean? Let us clear that up quickly. It is the mouth of the Mississippi River, a desolate wetland where the river breaks into three branches as it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  ...