Liz Duffy Adams‘s intermittently amusing Dog Act (Fortune’s Fool Theatre performing in The Gremlin) brings to mind the work of a number of super-duper playwrights: Bertolt Brecht (Mother Courage), Samuel Beckett (Waiting For Godot), Caryl Churchill (The Skriker, produced a…
Tag: Theater in St. Paul
Review | Journey’s End: long, but worthwhile
One of the first things to say about Gremlin Theatre‘s production of R.C. Sherriff‘s powerful Journey’s End (playing though Nov 10) is that it’s long: two hours and forty five minutes. Audiences back in the olden days (the play premiered…
Review | Samuel J And K: a celebration of the unbreakable bonds of family
Mat Smart is, imo, an unsung master. His plays reveal astonishing diversity, of subject matter, and narrative intensity. Here are some Smart titles, many of which I would wager you’ve never heard: the deliciously funny The Royal Society of Antarctica;…
Review | benevolence: scary-powerful
Difficult. Difficult, and presented with unrelieved intensity. This is an apt description of benevolence (playing at Penumbra Theatre Company through March 10). If you’re looking for feel-good entertainment, a sweet and undemanding play to watch while you digest a rich…
Review | Dial M For Murder: Dial M For Misogyny, Masculinity and Morals (or lack thereof)
You probably know Dial M for Murder better as a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Gremlin Theatre’s season opener reminds us it came first as a stage play (of the same title). And on Gremlin’s new thrust stage in the buzzing…
Review | A Steady Rain: solid
Of all the horrific things that have happened over the past fifty years the Jeffrey Dahmer story stands out. What makes it especially distressing is that a fourteen-year-old boy escaped from Dahmer’s basement apartment, ran naked to two Milwaukee police…
Roller Derby Queen: overlong, yes, but still effective
The central conceit of Michele Lepsche‘s affecting (and challenging) Roller Derby Queen (SOS Theater, performing in the wonderful Gremlin space – 550 Vandalia in St. Paul – through Nov 26) is terrific: Florence has ensconced herself in a junk-choked house…
Gremlin’s New Performing Space: Finally, Some Good Theater News
Been wondering about the Gremlin Theatre? Wonder no more. They’ve been busy, creating a much-needed new twin cities performance venue, in St. Paul’s Vandalia Tower. This spunky purveyor of edgy contemporary theater finally has a home of its own, after some years…