by SOPHIE KERMAN How many ping pong balls can you pick up in 30 seconds? In 15 seconds, can you come up with 5 different things that you’d like to put in a mailbox but probably shouldn’t, because you’re pretty sure it’s a felony? Game shows are weird, unpredictable, and completely arbitrary, and this might…
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…
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 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 MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN & LUCIE CHERBULIEZ Produced by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favorites is simply exquisite. My co-reviewer (and daughter), entranced, simply nodded when I asked her during the first story if she liked it. Known for “its innovative and visually spectacular puppetry and…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Director Amy Rummenie couldn’t have picked a better time of year to stage a drawing room farce: if you’re feeling stuck in the doldrums of a long, cold January, The School for Lies is just the kind of diversion to shake off a winter chill. The play, by David Ives, is a very loose adaptation…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Griffelkin might be a children’s opera, but the performers – a group of over 70 children in graders 4-12 – aren’t playing around. In a limited run at the Lab Theater, the opera is already nearly sold out, and for good reason. This isn’t your average high school musical: these kids have dedicated…
by SOPHIE KERMAN If you’re sick and tired of Christmas spirit, it might be time for a change of pace. Director Josh Cragun‘s adaptation of Maxim Gorky‘s The Lower Depths places you in the middle of a Great Depression basement-level tenement, peeling away all of the candy-coated materialism of the holiday season to reveal what happens to people when they…
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