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TheatrealexCoulombe |
| 26 April |
B
Hoo-rah!
- Engrossing, relevant, totally novel lighting and sound design that perfectly nailed the ominous, fever-dream-like atmosphere. Lighthouse, fire, smoke, waves, sunset, phone calls– excellent.
- Nice reversal of the more typical man-having-power-over-wife dynamic
- Menacing… almost, but not quite to the level I love so much in my favorite Pinter plays
- some truly bizarre and interesting characters (the Gideons, the neighbor, the ‘Swifty’s’ mechanic…)
- a surreal but thorough meditation on death, just what I expect from the late work of any great creator
- Clever wordplay
Blech…
- Sometimes TOO clever wordplay
- Muddled accents at times
- I didn’t care about the characters’ plight/stakes
- I wasn’t really ‘rooting’ for anyone or anything to happen
| 16 April |
B+
Hoo-rah!
- Truly amazing performers packed an hour and half with non-stop ‘wow’ and ‘holyshithowthefuckdidtheyreallywhat?!’ moments
- Great on-stage chemistry– and they somehow came off as relatable instead of super-human circus freaks.
- Excellent job balancing superb group-efforts, and showcasing the unique strengths of individual performers.
- The stamina and variety was incredible. One guy finished what looked like a thoroughly-exhausting routine lifting and spinning himself with bands, then, still panting, was handed a guitar to play and sing a song. He wasn’t a great musician, but still, wow.
- I think I got more exhausted clapping than they did performing. Take that as a commentary on my relative level of fitness compared to them.
- With each ever-more-impressive feat, I kept wondering how they would manage a properly climatic finale. They succeeded.
Blech…
- some parts felt repetitive/too long
- some bits (like the guitar-playing) focused too much on showing us how multi-talented they are, instead of just focusing on where their BEST talents are.
- a little too much ‘acting’, reminding us that they are not actors
| 7 April |
B-
Hoo-rah!
- The actress playing Erica Morini was superb– that’s my kind of old lady!
- Loved the bits about how to make/play/analyze violin. I’m a sucker for ‘how-to’
- Those feelings were compounded by having a very talented young violinist performing periodically through the show (clever device)
- Satisfying enough through-line and climax… I definitely puzzled over the ‘final question’ for some time.
Blech…
- either needed to be shorter, or have an intermission
- two actors and an okay script weren’t quite able to sustain interest for the full hour and forty minutes (felt claustrophobic at times)
- stakes didn’t feel high enough
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