I often come off like a chihuahua on sugar pills when reviewing plays for this magazine. I am excitable, yes, but never in the service of idle flattery. I also take no joy in being critical of people’s hard work. I’ve said this whole thing before several times, but I...
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...
Record stores have always been more than retail. People go in saying they’re just browsing, but that’s rarely the whole story. It’s a treasure hunt. They’re chasing a feeling. They’re hoping to recognize themselves in someone else’s taste. That’s why Plan 9 Music makes sense as the setting for Love & Vinyl, a site-specific...
Before we go any further, no, you’re not crazy. There is no King James Shakespeare play. Rajiv Joseph’s very recent 2022 play is decidedly not Elizabethan and contains far more garbage can basketball than Hamlet. The only thing I love more than Richmond Shakespeare’s phenomenal run of Shakespearean productions is when they go on a tonal limb and...
There’s something about the dead center of winter that brings out the best in humanity. It might be the desire to stay huddled around the fire, TV, or kitchen table, when your people begin to look more like fellow travelers in life rather than the people constantly not cleaning up after themselves. It could be seasonal depression settling in that...
Virginia Repertory Theatre is gearing up for the holidays with a new staging of A Christmas Carol, adapted and directed by Artistic Director Rick Hammerly. The production opens November 28 and runs through December 28 at the November Theatre, and if ambition counts for anything, Virginia Rep may be trying to carve out Richmond’s next annual...
Lungs is a stream of consciousness rom-com set in the pre-Trump fainting spell that privileged liberal America endured very loudly. The narrative employs the manic pixie dream girl and frustrated musician as the stereotypes to help us struggle with big decisions whilst policing climate change and renewables, carbon footprints, and the rise of the...
The sun, our sun, will expand to engulf the planet Earth in 5 billion years. Don’t bother setting an alarm or getting some extra SPF sunscreen, it won’t matter. Everything we have ever built, or will build, will vaporize and collapse to cinders. Everything. If it all ends in darkness, what is the point of anything? What is the full value of...
