Silence Is Worth a Thousand Words in Small Mouth Sounds at A Red Orchid Theatre
In the madness of our daily lives, we may wish that we could abandon our devices and spend a week meditating in the woods and getting high on nature. We […]
Nancy S. Bishop is publisher and Stages editor of Third Coast Review. She’s a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a 2014 Fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. You can read her personal writing on pop culture at nancybishopsjournal.com, and follow her on Twitter @nsbishop. She also writes about film, books, art, architecture and design.
3CR News: We’re Adding Stars to Third Coast Reviews
Third Coast Review is initiating a rating system for our arts reviews. Starting later this week, our reviews of films, plays, games, albums and more will carry ratings of zero […]
There’s Little Brotherly Love But Plenty of Poteen in The Lonesome West by AstonRep
The Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh is a story of two Irish brothers, locked in a codependent relationship of affection and hatred (mostly the latter). Throughout the course of the 100-minute […]
Review: Remy Bumppo’s Poetic Frankenstein Asks How a Lonely Creature Becomes a Monster
Frankenstein opens with an exquisitely staged birthing scene. The Creature is shrouded in a sheer fabric sac, a metaphoric womb. He struggles to free himself and emerges naked, covered in scars […]
Stage Shorts: Three New York Plays Celebrating Solo Performers
The three plays I saw last weekend in New York provided insights into how theater works, and emphasized language and physicality. Two are one-person performances and the third strongly highlights […]
Rock Music Means Freedom in Artistic Home’s Stirring Rock and Roll by Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard stirs up his personal brew of European political ideology, love, death and pop culture in his 2006 play, Rock and Roll, now on stage in a stirring production […]
Tension Builds in Luxury Hotel Room(s) in Zurich at Steep Theatre
Zürich by Amelia Roper at Steep Theatre is a tantalizing 105 minutes of tension, laced with some smart dialogue. Directed by Brad DeFabo Akin, the play’s five scenes are so cleverly constructed […]
Macbeth as You Will Never See It Again: An Earthy Mendoza by Los Colochos Teatro at Goodman Theatre
Mendoza, a thrillingly raw and earthy adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is being presented this week at Goodman Theatre in collaboration with the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance. This very graphic and […]
Paula Vogel’s Enthralling Indecent Haunts Us With Messages From the Past
Theater history, immigration, censorship and persecution are some of the ingredients in Paula Vogel’s compelling play, Indecent, which just opened at Victory Gardens Theater. Gary Griffin directs a multitalented cast […]
Pirandello’s Naked at Trap Door: The Tragedy of a Woman Whose Fate Is in Her Own Hands
It’s Rome in 1922. In his play Naked, Luigi Pirandello, the Nobel Prize-winning author, concocts a puzzling tangle of death and passion. Directed by Kay Martinovich, Naked is now on stage […]
Shaw’s Wit Shines Through the Silliness in City Lit’s Arms and the Man
City Lit Theater’s new production of George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 play, Arms and the Man, takes full advantage of its broad humor. Perhaps Shaw’s most frothy script, director Brian Pastor directs […]
Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Tells a Tragic Tale of Love and Loss at Interrobang Theatre
Edward Albee’s 2002 play, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia, hasn’t been performed very often in Chicago. I told my plus-one, rather casually, that it’s a play about a man […]