BWW Review: COPENHAGEN Pontificates the Explosive Meeting of Atomic Minds in Austin, TX
The mission statement of Austin Playhouse is to "Provide opportunities for both Austinite performers and audiences to celebrate the human experience". COPENHAGEN, now playing at their temporary home in the ACC Highland Campus, examines a highly debated meeting between Quantum Mechanics pioneer Werner Heisenberg (played by David Stahl), and his mentor, the "Pope" of Quantum Mechanics, Niels Bohr (play by Ev Lunning Jr.). Also attended by Bohr's wife Margrethe Bohr (played by Babs George), this meeting of the minds takes place years after their first skiing vacations together, in which they collaborated to prove Albert Einstein wrong on atomic theory. The examined reunion took place in September 1941, when Heisenberg was working in Nazi Germany as part of their atomic program. Travelling to Denmark to meet with Bohr, a Danish Jew, tensions ran high as the time for the meeting came closer. Within the polarizing political climate of the time, the show displays the current debate and inherently speculative narrative of what was discussed during this visit and how it may have changed human history.
BWW Review: RHINOCEROS St. Edwards Stages Smartly Stylish Satire
RHINOCEROS was written by Eug ne Ionesco in 1959 and staged for the first time in 1960. Considered by many scholars as one of the best examples of The Theatre of the Absurd, this label was, in later years, rejected as too interpretatively narrow. Over the course of three acts, the inhabitants of a small town in France turn into rhinoceroses. Only one human resists this mass metamorphosis and that is the central character, B renger, portrayed in this production by Blake Browning. He is an everyman figure who is criticized first for his drinking, lateness, and unkempt appearance and later for his paranoid obsession with the rhinoceroses. The play is widely considered a criticism of the spread of Fascism and Nazism in Europe preceding World War II. It examines such themes as conformity, mass political movements, mob mentality, logic and morality.
BWW Review: THE REAL THING is Not Real Entertaining
Tom Stoppard's THE REAL THING is a structurally complex play that uses the gimmick of the play-within-a-play to examine the concepts of marriage and infidelity. It debuted in London in 1982 and two years later was on Broadway.
Austin Playhouse's THE REAL THING Opens This Week
Henry and Annie have fallen in love, much to the chagrin of their spouses, but their affair does not lead to domestic bliss. As Henry endeavors to break through his protective facade of clever quips, Annie struggles to remain faithful to her new husband. This backstage comedy evolves into a thought-provoking meditation on "the real thing" in relationships, politics, and art. Stoppard combines his characteristically brilliant wordplay and wit with flashes of insight that illuminate the nature and the mystery of love, creating a Tony Award-winning play that challenges the mind while searching out the innermost secrets of the heart.
Photo Flash: First Look at Austin Playhouse's THE FOREIGNER, Opening 5/23
Austin Playhouse is proud to present one of the funniest comedies ever written. Shy Englishman, Charlie Baker has a hard time speaking to strangers. To help him out, his gregarious friend 'Froggy' LeSeur tells the residents of a rural fishing lodge that Charlie is a foreigner who doesn't understand English. Assuming their secrets are safe, chaos ensues when Charlie overhears dastardly plots involving the residents of Betty Meeks' lodge! Hailed as 'a charming comedy about the magic of kindness' by Chicago Theater Beat, The Foreigner is chock full of hilarious slapstick and witty wordplay.
Mary Moody Northen Theatre Presents TARTUFFE, 2/13-23
Mary Moody Northen Theatre, the award-winning producing arm of the St. Edward's University professional theatre training program, continues its 41st anniversary season with the hilarious comedy Tartuffe by Moliere, translated and adapted by Ranjit Bolt, running February 13 - 23, 2014.