Swan Still Stuns
When art becomes transcendent, it is unlike anything else. There is something sublime, something transportive, as if one is suddenly and rapturously catapulted into a meditative trance, invited into the imaginative rendering of an auteur and his truth. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Legend Returns, playing now at the Ahmanson, is a work of such beauty that its exquisiteness lies in the sheer audacity of its own existence. The re-telling of the classic ballet through the ingenious queer lens of a master storyteller is awe-inspiring.
Solving the Queer Problem Play*
In search of a queer dramaturgy outside of the hegemonic, heteronormative model.
*Part One of a Three-Part Essay.
A Play is a Poem is A Play about America.
Five short plays, meant to create a pastiche of Americana comprise Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem, and it’s having its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum.
Beckett Appreciation 101
Few writers are able to capture the imagination through irony, metaphor, and despair as startling or as vividly as Samuel Beckett. His prose has proven as deeply layered and richly textured as a perfectly aged bottle of wine. And much like wine, it is definitely an acquired taste.
John Leguizamo Gives a Long Overdue, Passionate and often Hilarious History Lesson
Most American History textbooks are lying to us. The Eurocentric, xenophobic, and excruciatingly myopic view of this land we call America gets a proper re-telling by the hilariously entertaining John Leguizamo in his solo show Latin History for Morons, playing now at the Ahmanson Theatre.
A Lesson in Dramaturgy
The Echo Theater Company is presenting the world premiere of Handjob written by Erik Patterson. In the #MeToo, Times Up, Harvey Weinstein era, this play seems to be positioning itself as a statement piece. It wants to join the conversation, but is it able to? If we break the play down to its most basic dramatic parts, we’ll find the answer.
Confounding Witch Leaves Much to Be Desired
At some point recently, the theater, at least in Los Angeles, has changed from a medium of thematic exploration and development to one of undisguised political posturing and heavy-handed morality. The latest victim of this sophomoric writing style is Witch, written by Jen Silverman and playing now at the Geffen Playhouse.
