Directors have two jobs: to help the audience understand what the play is about and to stage it so the audience can see it. Director Fred Anzevino has failed at both here. The Threepenny Opera is, like most Bertolt Brecht works, a critique of respectability: its antihero Macheath is a charming criminal, while its villains […]
Tag: Bertolt Brecht
Posted inArts & Culture
Arnie the Doughnut, Tangles and Plaques, and 11 more new stage shows to see
A delightful kids’ show and a Neo-Futurist’s look at dementia are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Falling, and eight more stage shows to see now
Bertolt Brecht’s satire set in 1930s gangland Chicago and Interrobang Theatre’s local premiere of an off-Broadway hit are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inArts & Culture
Resolution, The Trump Card, and nine more new theater reviews
A drama from Pride Films and Plays and Mike Daisey’s election monologue are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inArts & Culture
Brecht gets the hip-hop treatment in The Good Person of Szechwan
But Cor Theatre’s update of the parable rings false.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Hypocrites’ Adding Machine, Factory’s The Last Big Mistake, and eight more stage shows to see now
Ten new reviews of notable stage shows, among them a musical based on Elmer Rice’s expressionist 1923 satire.
Posted inArts & Culture
Hnath Fest! Lookingglass and Writers Theatre present works by the same up-and-comer
Lookingglass and Writers Theatre present works by up-and-coming playwright Lucas Hnath, one effective, one coy.
Posted inBlogs
An interview with Richard Linklater and Northwest Chicago Film Society on film programming (part two)
The second part of a conversation between the noted film director and the local repertory film organization
Posted inBlogs
Weekly Top Five: The best of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Highlights from the filmography of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Posted inFilm
Darren Aronofsky’s Noah tells the story by the book
Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is immersed in Judaic literature.
Posted inArts & Culture
Red Tape Theatre’s Hamlet Is Dead. No Gravity. presents mousetraps within mousetraps
Red Tape Theatre’s Hamlet Is Dead. No Gravity. presents mousetraps within mousetraps.
Posted inBlogs
Reader’s Agenda Mon 2/3: LitMash, Youth Code, and The Mother
What’s on the Reader‘s Agenda for Monday, February 3
Posted inArts & Culture
But is The Normal Heart good?
TimeLine Theatre gets Larry Kramer’s important The Normal Heart pumping.
Posted inArts & Culture
Joan Allen can’t find her way home
Joan Allen returns to Steppenwolf in a literary construct called The Wheel.