Over the course of Mike Bartlett’s three-hour play EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON, now in its U.S. premiere at Steep Theatre Company, he attempts to tackle themes both universal—quite literally atmospheric and cosmological—and personal. The result is a sprawling play with seismic shifts in tone ranging from the hyperrealistic to the experimental to the just plain bizarre. And because EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON attempts to pack so much into its run-time, it never landed on any compelling takeaways for me.

Continue reading “Steep’s EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON Is a Long and Uneven Journey” →

I had a bit of a revelation after seeing Timeline Theatre Company’s production of A DISAPPEARING NUMBER on Wednesday night. While the immediacy of Complicite’s 2007 play did not strike me immediately upon entering the theater (Timeline’s production is only the fourth staging in the United States), it struck me quite clearly on the journey home. A DISAPPEARING NUMBER spans time and geographical space to follow the narratives of multiple mathematicians—and their loved ones— in their numerical pursuits: the pursuit of patterns and equations, and ultimately, the pursuit of order.

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It seems rather poetic that newly appointed Artistic Director Will Davis’s first production at American Theater Company, MEN ON BOATS, focuses rather literally on charting new frontiers. Jaclyn Backhaus’s witty, entertaining play (which Davis previously helmed with a different ensemble off-Broadway) offers a fictionalized account of Major John Wesley Powell’s expedition along the Colorado and Green Rivers towards the then-unknown Grand Canyon. The titular men on boats comprise a crew of ten split among four vessels—and all are played by women or gender non-conforming performers.

Continue reading “Enjoyable, Wry MEN ON BOATS Marks American Theater Company Artistic Director Will Davis’s Directorial Debut” →