June 14, 2017
A.C.T. presents “A Night with Janis Joplin”
A sunnier Janis sings the Blues
A Night with Janis Joplin opened at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater this past week. Like all authorized biographies it presented a more acceptable version...
theater
May 3, 2017
Peter Brook’s “Battlefield” at A.C.T.
In step with Destiny
Peter Brook speaks warmly about traveling outside of Europe with a group of actors in the early 1970s. This group would eventually form the core of the International...
April 23, 2017
Cutting Ball Theater’s Phèdre
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April 5, 2017
“Needles and Opium” at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater
The poetics of Robert Lepage
Asking whether one prefers Robert Lepage’s theater or the theater of, say, Annie Baker, is like asking whether one prefers poetry to novels. Where most...
March 10, 2017
A.C.T. presents Annie Baker’s “John”
A quietude of kindness
In these days of energetic acting, high-speed dialog, and dazzlingly complicated plots, playwright Annie Baker’s John is a marvel of tender realism. The three-hour play at A.C.T.’s The Strand is paced like a snail on Quaaludes. But as...
January 11, 2017
Bill Irwin dancing to Samuel Beckett
There’s no doubt that the audience loves Bill Irwin. All he has to do is pull on a pair of baggy pants and the audience cheers. There’s also no doubt that Bill Irwin loves Samuel Beckett. These two premises serve as the basis for On...