by ADAM SCHENCK and REBECCA HALAT. We live in an age of oversharing, as if our every whim must be declared on social media. In politics, partisanship prevents us from reaching compromise; we go to Target instead of Wal-Mart; Facebook prompts us to say where we work and whom our romantic partners are. We “like”…
by REBECCA HALAT and ADAM SCHENCK. Christmastime is a reminder that our best stories are not new. The Guthrie’s annual production of A Christmas Carol is just such a story. How then to make the old familiar story new? The Guthrie celebrates its 40th year of A Christmas Carol this year, and this classic production…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: A Christopher Durang play is never dull. Even when he uses Chekhov as a jumping-off point, as he does with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, he manages to keep the story entertaining. At first you might think, “Oh, just what I needed—another story about depressed Russians,” but it turns out…
By LIZ BYRON. Even as you walk into the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie Theater, you feel yourself sinking into the eerie atmosphere of Wreck. Five musicians sit facing the empty stage, playing quiet but haunting music. You are directed to carefully make your way around the very edge of the stage (presumably to keep dirt off the…
By CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE My Fair Lady at the Guthrie Theater is a lavish musical theater spectacle that stays true to the Lerner/Loewe, Moss Hart Broadway original while adding its own unique touches. The 1956 production set the record for the longest run of any major musical theater show at the time and has been called “the…
by SOPHIE KERMAN “Theatre,” says Governor Phillip early on in Our Country’s Good, “is an expression of civilization.” In Timberlake Wertenbaker‘s 1988 play, now on the Guthrie Theater‘s McGuire Proscenium Stage, certainly makes a case that theatre has the power to provide dignity and self-respect in the most abject places. Set in 1788 in New South Wales (now Australia), the play…
by SOPHIE KERMAN There is a line between dark comedy and laughing at others’ misfortune, and the Guthrie‘s production of Crimes of the Heart has crossed it. This high-energy, highly theatrical interpretation of Beth Henley‘s 1978 Southern Gothic play gives the audience a healthy dose of belly laughs, and if that is what you want, then fine: but this…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE How do you take Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of The Three Musketeers, which is over 600 pages long, and condense it into a fresh version for the stage? Director Amy Rummenie and playwright John Heimbuch of Walking Shadow Theatre Company began by reading the story aloud over the course of several…
By TAMAR NEUMANN: I always think that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a comedy. You’re probably thinking, “Well that’s because it is.” But, is it really a comedy? It certainly has comedic moments. In fact, it actually has one of my all-time favorite scenes—“The Question Game.” Those of you familiar with the play will know…
by SOPHIE KERMAN A lot of theater companies and filmmakers seem to think that in order to make Shakespeare comprehensible to modern audiences, they need to place his plays in a modern setting. But it turns out that – wait for it, this might come as a surprise – Shakespeare was actually a really great writer of the English…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 