If you’ve been reading these reviews for a while, you’ll notice I love me some context. Especially surrounding William Shakespeare’s plays. One of my favorite things about the existence of Richmond Shakespeare is that they’ve forced me to go back to the English Lit...
Richmond metal band GWAR says the Secret Service contacted the group following a recent performance at the Vans Warped Tour in Washington, D.C., that featured the mock execution of a Donald Trump effigy. Video of the performance, which showed band members disemboweling a Trump character onstage and spraying the crowd with fake blood, circulated...
Do you remember the rollerblading guy with the American flag kit on September 12th? We will never forget the 11th for the horrors, but do you remember the 12th? The 13th? If you do, I don’t even have to say which year. If you don’t, let me tell you a little bit about your country. I don’t know how many of you slept the night of September 11th,...
It could be said that Shakespeare invented the rom-com. It could also be said that Jane Austen improved it a couple of centuries later. Between the two of them, meet-cutes, notices of love or rejection arriving at exactly the wrong time, and breathless affirmations of adoration and/or regret always end in a heap of laughter and wedding bells. The...
Editor's Note: For more on the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth, read Christian Detres' companion essay HERE. This has been an inspirational season for Richmond’s homegrown theatre. We are following up the sold-out run of Witchduck with the mid-project musical exhibition of Truth, a musical enshrining the story of the inimitable Sojourner...
I am rarely speechless, especially about theatre. Since I don’t get paid if I remain silent, I will make myself criticize a play I don’t feel I have any right to judge. Gotta pay the rent, and all that. I came into this performance of WitchDuck by Cadence and Firehouse Theatre with a vague understanding that this had some historical relevance to...
Beloved humorist and New York Times bestselling author, David Sedaris, will land feet first on April 17th during a stop at the Altria Theater as part of his “An Evening with David Sedaris” 43-show US tour, featuring all-new readings and recollections. Maybe you have been a fan of Sedaris since 1992 when his essay “Santaland Diaries” was broadcast...
I forgot how incredible Macbeth is. Even without the dozen or so quotes that have infiltrated the English lexicon of clichés, the work is rife with immediately recognizable themes and motivations. With no Macbeth, there is no Game of Thrones, no House of Cards, no Dune. This is the ultimate royal court drama of intrigue, ambition, murder, and...
There’s a moment during a Babe Improv set where you realize two things at once. First, they have no idea what they’re about to do next. Second, it’s all going to work out somehow. That tightrope is what makes it work, and when you have two people this in sync, it turns into something genuinely laugh-out-loud entertaining. Richmond duo Babe...
I am prone to hyperbole. While my enthusiasm for local theatre runs hot, believe me when I tell you Primary Trust is the best production I have ever seen in Richmond. I mean that. It’s perfect. On every level. In every performance. Pacing, set design, lighting, sound design, hell - even the costuming was impeccable. Every single aspect of this...
