Next Day. Same Time. Same Place: How Waiting Out the Pandemic Is Like Waiting for Godot
Even though these times of self-isolating feel absurd, the Theater of the Absurd has a lot to teach us about waiting, time, isolation, and feeling like we exist.
Theatre
David Mamet Lampoons Harvey Weinstein to No Effect in ‘Bitter Wheat’
By staging a thinly veiled version of Harvey Weinstein – played by John Malkovich in a fat suit – David Mamet aims for controversy in Bitter Wheat.
David Hare’s ‘Peter Gynt’ Is Ibsen on Steroids
Henrik Ibsen's verse drama Peer Gynt famously challenges the limits of the stage. So what does Sir David Hare do to adapt the play for the 21st century? Turn the dial up. On everything.
Béla Tarr’s Multimedia Event, ‘Missing People’, Brings Humanity to the Fore
Béla Tarr's work has always been rich with deep humanistic concern, but his post-cinematic projects have taken a more actively ethical stance, as experienced in Missing People.
Make America Bleed Again: The Violent Geography of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ’Oklahoma!’
Originally produced as fascism spread throughout Europe and nativism spread in the US, Oklahoma!'s exploration of belonging was a conspicuously political one.
Racism Further Damns the American Dream in the Young Vic’s ‘Death of a Salesman’
An accomplished cast ignite Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell's compelling production of Arthur Miller's classic, Death of a Salesman, but does making the Lomans a black family enhance Miller's intentions?
An American in London (Theatre): Interview with Actor Joseph Mydell
Free from the relentless "black and white" trap in American performing arts, Joseph Mydell talks with PopMatters as he prepares to play Ben Loman in Marianne Elliott's much-anticipated revival of Death of a Salesman at London's Young Vic.
‘Dramatic Exchanges’ Offers a Delightful Epistolary History of the National Theatre
Daniel Rosenthal’s illuminating collection in Dramatic Exchanges brings together delightful exchanges by creatives in the National Theatre’s story.
David Ireland’s ‘Ulster American’ Satirizes Oppressive Double Standards
Winner of the coveted Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award in 2018, Ulster American is primed to contribute to societal narratives while lampooning contemporary injustices.
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Making Troy Great Again: On Shakespeare’s ‘Troilus and Cressida’ and Trump’s Ugly Political Rhetoric
The Trump presidency is Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida made real – only it's stripped of the mythology and just lying bare and ugly for all to see.
The End of Endings: How ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and Don DeLillo’s ‘Zero K’ Explain the Current State of Storytelling
Somehow, without realizing it, for both DeLillo and Rowling, death, the end of the world, and endings themselves are best emblematized by a dysfunctional father/son relationship.
Harvey Fierstein’s Work on Gay Identity ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ Resonates Throughout the Decades
Torch Song Trilogy is a progressive and contemplative meditation on gay identity that was radical for the ’70s and remains dire for the contemporary moment.