As the lights dimmed in the Bryant Lake Bowl theatre, and Seth Lepore started his performance, I was confused. Lepore sat on stage, nervously glancing around the audience, making disjointed comments about being in Antarctica. The audience was laughing — because this was an inside joke I didn’t get? Because they were uncomfortable? Because they…
by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN On Friday, March 21, one of the world’s most innovate dance ensembles will be performing at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Under the artistic direction of Judith Smith, AXIS Dance Company “challenges the possibilities of movement.” Founded in 1987, they have paved the way for a powerful contemporary dance…
by SOPHIE KERMAN The story of Tristan and Yseult (or Isolde) has been told and re-told for centuries, from the original 12th-century French romance to Wagner’s 19th-century opera to Ridley Scott’s fairly atrocious 2006 adaptation. Such a long history provides the freedom to take a few liberties, to push and pull the tale into new forms…
by TAMAR NEUMANN This February experiences a different kind of love story – one that doesn’t stick to traditional heterosexual or homosexual norms. Instead it focuses on stories that are rarely heard, stories that explore queer and trans* experiences. The 20% Theatre Company, known for promoting the work of female and transgender theatre artists, has…
By MIRA REINBERG The year 1800, when Schiller (the German poet, playwright, and philosopher) published his play Mary Stuart, was one moment in a formidable transformation in European aesthetic understanding.The conception of history was turning away from the rational terms of Enlightenment philosophy whereby art strives to be a true representation of life, to an…
Aisle Say Twin Cities is pleased to introduce its newest reviewer, Tamar Neumann, an adjunct English professor who also writes for the St Paul Community Reporter! by TAMAR NEUMANN A Kind of Love Story begins with the frank admission that this is a love story. It’s a story we’ve heard a thousand times before: Boy meets…
by SOPHIE KERMAN If you haven’t heard of Transatlantic Love Affair yet, you might be a little bit behind the curve. The company has been creating its own brand of physical theatre since 2010, and has been picking up Ivey Awards and annual Fringe Favorites left and right ever since. Their ability to captivate audiences year after…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE New Century Theatre’s musical comedy, Five Course Love, is a light, sometimes naughty, cabaret-style evening of entertainment catering to the Valentine’s Day date-night crowd. The quality of the material is mixed, with some genuinely funny moments. The three performers, who play five characters each, give it everything they’ve got. Ryan McGuire Grimes,…
by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN Verdi was a bad boss. On the day of the final dress rehearsal of a performance of Macbeth, one of the principals complained that they had already run-through the Act I duet 150 times. “I would not say that if I were you, for within half an hour it will be…
By LIZ BYRON In some ways it is unfortunate that Diana Son’s play Stop Kiss is as relevant today as it was when it was first performed in 1998. Fourteen years later, and it is still not unthinkable that a person be attacked and beaten for being (or even just appearing to be) LGBTQ. And yet the very…
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