BWW Reviews: VENUS IN FUR at 2nd Story Theater
2nd Story Theater is currently offering an excellent production of VENUS IN FUR by David Ives in its intimate, seventy seat Downstage. Let's not bury the lead: the play itself, the cast, the set, the lighting, the costumes and the props are all terrific, but what really makes this work is an outstanding performance by Lara Hakeem. This is the second time I have seen Ms Hakeem perform at 2nd Story (my loss-she's been there since the theater opened in 2001), and ass good as she was in AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE, she is even better here. Hakeem is at once hilarious and sexy as her character, Vanda-an auditioning actress, slowly but surely turns the table on her putative writer/director, Thomas, played by Richard Derry. He is miserable to her at first, as she seems all wrong for the part, but she understands: 'You're a writer and director; it's your job to torture actors.' Once she comes in from the rain in a trench coat, she spends the evening in tight leather undergarments, and Derry's Thomas crumples before the charms of Hakeem's Vanda. A newcomer to 2nd Story, Derry is also very good, particularly showing his chops in the brief time he and Hakeem switch roles and he plays Vanda.
BWW Reviews: LEAR, Union Theatre, June 7 2014
Gary Naylor sees a Lear who walks among us as her (yes, this Lear is a woman) mind comes and goes and her daughters squabble over the prizes she so foolishly has allocated. There are lessons too - for state and family - today.