By James Foritano Cambridge, MA - It’s the close of World War II, the dawn of the atomic age. The Allies have captured Germany’s Top 10 nuclear scientists and sequestered them in a country estate in England in order to listen in on their conversation and learn what they know about the American nuclear program and to gauge how close the Nazis were to making a nuclear bomb. Ironies abound in this drama based on real military eavesdropping by playwright Alan Brody, professor of theater arts at MIT and co-director of Catalyst Collaborative @MIT, a science-meets-theater collaboration between Central Square Theater and MIT. Exploiting the rich but incomplete trove of recordings and documents that have survived time, Alan Brody weaves a drama less about material physics than about the physics of motivation. In this placid country estate, a tangle of personalities collides and within … [Read more...] about Operation Epsilon at Central Square Theatre

By Lindsey Davis Boston, MA - The Boston Ballet’s current show, “All Kylián,” features three acts that combine ballet with modern dance and performance art. Every dance reinterprets and expands on the one before it, all with an obvious visual signature of the acclaimed choreographer for whom the show is named, Jiri Kylián. Kylián is a Czech artist who has been departing from classical styles his entire career. His past compositions have been established as “abstract,” some even described as “surrealistic.” “All Kylián” was definitely more conceptual than classical, abrasive and almost violent movements were coordinated to somber music — the men emphasizing their power over women through reactionary choreography. As the curtain lifted upon “Wings of Wax,” rows of dancers in simple black tights lingered in the background, a woman breaking first to perform a dramatic solo. Then, … [Read more...] about The Boston Ballet’s “All Kylian”

By James Foritano Boston, MA- People like to laugh, and they like to laugh especially at other people and their foibles. I heard waves of laughter as I sat watching the Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Servant of Two Masters,” a presentation of ArtsEmerson now at The Paramount Theater through February 10. Commedia dell’ arte is a tradition which arose, according to many sources, in Italy sometime in the fifteen hundreds with small troupes of actors who would travel from village to village, region to region, striving to attract the locals to the main square and a makeshift stage where they could enjoy boisterous and broad repartee, outrageous costumes, and related or unrelated acrobatics. Napoleon, in his revolutionary sweep through Europe, banned commedia dell’ arte in the regions of Italy he occupied. And one can see why: Napoleon himself, with his short, stout person and … [Read more...] about ArtsEmerson presents Carlo Goldoni’s Servant of Two Masters

By James Foritano Cambridge, MA-The actor, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, who plays Martin Luther King in The Underground Railway Theater’s production of Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop,” certainly looks like a sad-sack Everyman, as he emerges on stage. As Parent/King closes the door of Room # 306 of the Lorraine Motel, he is turned away from his audience, bawling out into the April-mean weather of Memphis, Tennessee that he craves a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes. It is the 3rd of April 1968, and King has just given the speech of his life — literally. He has prophesied his own death in ringing phrases, but now his powerful baritone rings out only with the urgency of his addiction. We can almost smell Martin’s smoky breath as it urges an anonymous member of his entourage to bring only “Pall Mall” cigarettes. This is certainly the ‘back-side’ of history as well as that of Martin Luther King. … [Read more...] about The Mountaintop at the Central Square Theater

By James Foritano   Boston, MA - Last weekend, I was at the Baghdad Zoo courtesy of Company One’s production of Rajiv Joseph’s drama, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”. It was a dark play, set as it was in the war-torn, 2003 Baghdad of “shock and awe.” But it was lighted with a humor that cast facets of color into the darkness while absorbing darkness into itself. This was a delicate balance, and it worked for me, except in rare moments.   Most of the focus of our hypnotic news coverage was not on the Baghdad Zoo and what happens when chaos blows apart the cages, releasing authentic beasts into the ‘bestiality’ of war, yet Rick Park’s mesmeric tiger owns the stage, both behind and in front of the bars of his cage.   Mr. Park plays an appropriately humble tiger that’s been demoted twice. Firstly, he shares the Baghdad Zoo with a pride of lions who, no argument, are … [Read more...] about Company One presents Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

By James Foritano The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company under the stars plays “Coriolanus,” at Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common through August 12, with appropriate sound and fury. Coriolanus, the dark hero of this Shakespearian tragedy was himself born under the star of Mars, the Roman god of war. He is a shaggy alpha wolf – who comes alive wherever, whenever and however Rome’s vast empire is being threatened – need ‘recruits with strong death wish’? Coriolanus is your man! Trouble is, this eminent Roman warrior is nowise at home with the messy complications of a republic, where the demands of the citizens require tending to. “Coriolanus” opens with a food riot. Grain is running scarce and the enraged populace is demanding that the aristocrats open up the corn stores and share the superfluity with their hungry bellies. Coriolanus is like: “What???” To him, these raggedy, … [Read more...] about Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “Coriolanus” at Boston Common