Martin Jones Westlin – Page 22

Rep’s ’60s Anthem ‘Steal Heaven’ Rings True

By Martin Jones Westlin | January 15, 2015 |

If you remember the 1960s (some of us don’t, after all), you’ll remember Abbie Hoffman, a leader in counterculture thought — and with its world-premiere ‘Steal Heaven,’ San Diego Repertory Theatre has not only drawn a good bead on Hoffman but the importance of dissension’s very place in the American experience.

Cygnet’s ‘Carol’ Is Fair, But Where’s Fred?

By Martin Jones Westlin | December 9, 2014 |

Everybody knows ‘A Christmas Carol,’ wherein the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge plunges into virtuousness courtesy of three dogged apparitions. But Cygnet Theatre Company’s entry this year is a little different. That’s because, all in all, it’s not really that good.

Good ‘Nutcracker’ Nothing to Be Scared Of

By Martin Jones Westlin | December 4, 2014 |

A fallen hero’s sword is an object of grief for the man’s mother — but little could she have known that the weapon was one key to no less than preserving Christmas for the world. If you want more, you’ll just have to go see New Village Arts’ turn at ‘The Nutcracker’ and watch the Rats get theirs.

Great ‘Henry V’: What’s Old Is New

By Martin Jones Westlin | November 4, 2014 |

Henry V loved France so much that he took it (and Catherine of Valois) for his own in 1415’s Battle of Agincourt. The story’s more complicated than all that, of course — and the debut of New Fortune Theatre is just the occasion on which to tell it, through a very good ‘Henry V.’

Arguably, ‘Freud’s Last Session’ Is a Hit

By Martin Jones Westlin | October 23, 2014 |

Two of the 20th century’s greatest men of letters came from uniformly different backgrounds and have equally opposite beliefs about God’s existence. In North Coast Repertory Theatre’s ‘Freud’s Last Session,’ we get quite a nice look at the debate that would have followed if the two had ever met.

Everybody Flock to Cygnet’s Shepards

By Martin Jones Westlin | October 7, 2014 |

The American Dream is in reality the American Nightmare, and Sam Shepard is here to prove it. Cygnet Theatre’s very good Shep-Rep fare, comprising “True West” and “Fool for Love,” is Shepard come alive, with two emotionally raw scripts and a scathing indictment of a country that’s clearly lost its way.