Posts by Martin Jones Westlin
Exposition is leaky, Johnson is excellent in good ‘Jewish Joke’
Sen. Joseph McCarthy died young, and his obsession with communist infiltration probably stoked that. The Roustabouts Theatre Co.’s good ‘A Jewish Joke’ reflects McCarthyism’s repercussions — but, like McCarthy, it’s missing a few of its marbles.
Read MoreUser-Friendliness Is Key To NCR’s Fine ‘Random World’
There’s a universe of forces for good in daily life, and playwright Steven Dietz says most of them go over our heads. North Coast Repertory Theatre’s excellent mount of his ‘This Random World,’ and his own deft and user-friendly hand, combine to show us he’s right.
Read MoreSplintered text, history mar MOXIE’s fair ‘Bliss’
The era of female empowerment begs the question of its relative quietude over thousands of years. MOXIE Theatre’s current ‘Bliss (or Emily Post Is Dead!)’ has the right idea in addressing it — but some see-saw dialogue and an enormous directorial oversight knock it off balance.
Read MorePolitics, Not Theater, Fuels Cygnet’s So-So ‘Last Wife’
Henry VIII couldn’t soldier his way out of a wet paper bag, but he knew how to push other soldiers’ buttons. Then he met Katherine Parr, in whom he met his match. Cygnet Theatre Company’s ‘The Last Wife’ chronicles the events and the outcome — and while the script holds out Parr as a model, the show certainly does not.
Read MoreUser-Friendliness Is Key in Fine ‘Color of Light’
Art and religion are among the few things you never discuss in a bar. The two principals in Vantage Theatre’s fine ‘The Color of Light’ may or may not have visited a watering hole in their time, but amid the bond they forged within those topics, it doesn’t matter.
Read MoreSan Diego Arts 2017: Theatre
On its surface, San Diego theater acquitted itself quite well in 2017…Indeed, theater here grows more practiced and comfortable with itself each year…
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