Christine Sarkes and Erika Sasseville (a mother/daughter review) What do two of the greatest literary figures of the Elizabethan era–William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe–create when they spend hours together writing a play? The answer: Fire and magic! That is what the audience witnessed during opening night of Born With Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams at…
by Christine Sarkes The cast and creative team of Guthrie Theater’s Twelfth Night squeeze every ounce of humor, romance, and physicality out of Shakespeare’s great comedy; it is a zany, madcap delight. Many aspects of this production were so well and cleverly done that I can’t find a single negative thing to say. When we were…
by CHRISTINE SARKES Romeo and Juliet at the Guthrie Theater through October 28 is fresh, sexy and brilliantly directed by Guthrie’s artistic director Joseph Haj. I especially loved the humor and vibrancy of the staging and the modern cadence of Shakespeare’s words. The play sizzles with energy and will absolutely appeal to younger middle and…
by PAIGE BEAMAN King Lear at the Guthrie Theater is a captivating and heart-breaking portrayal of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Accented with standout acting and exquisite 1920s/30s costume design, the play takes us on a beautiful yet painful journey of a father‘s relationship with his daughters. While the epic fight scenes were a delight, Stephen Yoakam’s haunting…
By ELLEN FERRY. I took my seat before the Andy Boss Thrust Stage fearful that what I was about to witness—a 90-minute rendition of one of the finest plays ever written—would feel severely truncated. Romeo and Juliet’s star-crossed love is archetypal. The tale need not be explained, but would such a short run-time leave me…
Seeing Shakespeare always makes me a little nervous. I do not fear the language or the twisty-turny plots; rather, my reaction is based on years of experience of seeing all sorts of wacky “new” twists on the Bard’s plays. I’ve seen a steampunk Macbeth and a post-apocalyptic The Tempest, a reverse-gender cast of Romeo and…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: If you have been following Aisle Say you will know that there are a couple of current Shakespeare and Shakespeare contemporary plays being performed in the Twin Cities right now. Since it is Fall, that means two of those productions are being done by the Classical Actors Ensemble. This year they have chosen…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: Every once in a while I see a Shakespeare play that completely redefines the way I think about a particular play. It doesn’t happen often. I happen to see quite a bit of Shakespeare and I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to see some of the world’s best acting companies perform it. I’ve…
by SOPHIE KERMAN A lot of theater companies and filmmakers seem to think that in order to make Shakespeare comprehensible to modern audiences, they need to place his plays in a modern setting. But it turns out that – wait for it, this might come as a surprise – Shakespeare was actually a really great writer of the English…
By TAMAR NEUMANN: Othello has long been my favorite Shakespeare tragedy. It may not have star-crossed lovers or scorned nephew-sons, but it has one character that outshines everything else—Iago. While I can understand why the play is called Othello, it might be better named Iago: it is Iago who pulls the strings, and without him, there would be little to…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 