There’s Not Much Substance There For Hir.
By Patrick Hurley
There is a continuing theatrical narrative of patriarchal and hegemonic representation. A plethora of American stories that deal with the lower to middle class American family through a very traditional lens, highlighting struggle. For the last decade or so, the surge of identity politics, awareness of a need to be more inclusive and over-correction of the aforementioned narrative, there has been a shift in the collective narrative from the white heteronormative expectancy of canonical works into one of many colors, shapes, sexual orientations, gender identities and cultural re-appropriations. Read more 
Dear Evan Hansen Flashes its Way into History
By Patrick Hurley
Stories of teenage turmoil have been being told for centuries. The misunderstood youth trope nearly always serves a narrative wherein a moral dilemma serves as edification to an ignorant, older audience. Shakespeare killed his young star-crossed lovers. The adults in their lives had driven them to suicide because of their inability to reconcile differences with each other, thus preaching the dictum of embracing each other’s differences. Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway phenomenon, which is currently on its first national tour, playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, is the most recent iteration of the misunderstood youth narrative, and this time, as is the custom with today’s YA fiction, it wants to feel like an inside job. Read more
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is Dead on!
By Patrick Hurley
Free will and the sheer randomness of the universe as two men wander a theatrical wilderness in desperate search for understanding makes Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, playing now at A Noise Within, a thought-provoking modern masterpiece that is as deeply profound as it is hilarious. Read more
Shakespeare’s Measure Proves All Too Timely
By Patrick Hurley
Method and Madness theatre Co. is presenting Measure for Measure, at the Mid-City Arts Center. The staging of this lesser produced Shakespeare Comedy as directed by Margaret Starbuck is in a cabaret-style. The seating is meant to immerse the audience into the action as it happens around us. And while the staging of an episodic comedy comes with its own set of challenges, the use of audience interaction at least gives the somewhat problematic text a feel of novelty and relevance. Read more
Belleville Bewilders
By Patrick Hurley
What is happening to theater? Why do so many theatrical experiences end in a shrug of bewilderment? The elements of dramatic tension, conflict and drama are better served on Netflix these days. Read more
Hamlet in a Hurry
By Patrick Hurley
There is a sense of urgency to Bedlam’s four actor production of Hamlet, playing now in repertory with George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan at the Broad Stage. Read more
This Water Ain’t Flowin’
By Patrick Hurley
In desperate need of human connection, a group of people navigate love, loss and addiction in the surprisingly dated and sluggish Water By The Spoonful, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum. Read more
Elliot Lingers in the Past
By Patrick Hurley
A metaphor manifest through a time-bending series of monologues, makes Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, playing now at the Kirk Douglas, a lyrical but uneven patchwork. Read more
God is Sinfully Funny
By Patrick Hurley
The almighty has decided to return to the world to clear up a few misinterpretations that two thousand plus years of exegesis has gotten wrong. And since he’s decided to return to Los Angeles, he takes, as his corporeal host, irrepressible sitcom star Sean Hayes. And who doesn’t want to see Sean Hayes as God? Good thing you don’t have to imagine how fabulous that would be, it’s actually happening in Act of God, the wonderfully funny new play by David Javernaum, playing now at the Ahmanson Theatre. Read more
A Beautifully Made Bed
By Patrick Hurley
The journey of a relationship is told in a beautifully simplistic way in Sheila Callaghan’s new play Bed, presented by Echo Theater Company and playing now at the Atwater Village Theatre. Read more
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