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Press coverage

praise for past productions

season 06/07

About Great Men of Genius

NPR review by Nate Johnson (1.9MB mp3)
TheaterMania feature by Mike Daisey
KPFA interview by C.S. Soong (21MB mp3)
“comic, poignant and thought-provoking…entertaining and impressive…a monologue of pugnaciously revelatory satire…Daisey charges into the material with energizingly pugnacious bravado, satiric glee and investigative skill…told with wit and panache, Daisey punctuating his words with sharp gestures as his flexible voice assumes different characters and rises from intimate confidences to manic bellows…The result isn’t just highly entertaining. It’s also bracingly honest and affecting.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Watching a Mike Daisey show is a lot like staying up all night listening to the maniacal rantings of the smartest kid in your dorm holding forth on science, art, showmanship, megalomania and, of course, Star Trek…Comic timing is Daisey’s secret weapon…I laughed so hard I cried…Great Men is big-time brain candy that takes a while to digest. It’s a colossally gutsy project that takes the whole medium-is-the-message thing seriously as Daisey slaps the convention of the short and tight solo genre upside the head…seeing these shows as stand-alone solos would be cheating yourself of one of the cheekiest theatrical adventures in recent memory…it was like having Daisey teach a full-on Western Civ survey class.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Just once, it’d be nice to see Mike Daisey and Garrison Keillor trade places, not so much to hear Keillor’s nostalgically mellow take on Daisey’s world, but to see Daisey rip the lid off Lake Wobegon and expose its wicked underbelly. Daisey is a Keillor for the seriously perverse…He blends the lives of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla and L. Ron Hubbard with snapshots from his own life to present four compelling, strange and wildly hilarious solo theatrical pieces that can be enjoyed either individually or in a mind-expanding Sunday-long marathon…He is a mesmerizing performer who spins words into comic and emotional gold, revealing as much about himself as the subjects he is discussing…The pieces are all hugely entertaining.”—Contra Costa Times
“In the first few minutes, Daisey had us in the palm of his meaty hand, tickling our bellies. (Our scribbled notes in the darkness say this: "Fucking HILARIOUS.")…He paints for us not only pictures of who these men were, but also of himself, and, by association, how the productivity and madness of genius can be expressed in our own lives. And did we say he’s funny? Daisey is freaking funny. And smart…He is a cross between Louis Black and Andy Richter, or the love child of Spalding Gray and Micheal McShane…The ultimate result is a vivid and detailed portrait of the nature of megalomania and success…the five-hour plus journey was brilliantly executed. We say, stock up on trail mix, coffee, chocolate, and get tickets for one of the remaining Sunday marathons before this unique theatrical experience sells out.”—SFist

About Oliver Twist

KCBS interview with Michael Wartella (1.6MB mp3)
Broadway World feature by Eugene Lovendusky
San Leandro Times feature on Jennifer Ikeda
“engagingly grungy and entertaining…delightfully theatrical…Bartlett and his brilliant set and costume designer Rae Smith stage Oliver’s episodic saga—from his birth in a pauper’s workhouse through Fagin’s den of child thieves to safety in the arms of opportune benefactors—within the grimy, distressed four walls of a wonderfully theatrical box set, starkly lit with bare bulbs and full of hidden trapdoors, cranks, levers and other fetchingly low-tech devices. Gerard McBurney’s buoyantly sly score infuses the action with bumptious, sentimental and ominous tunes…a cross between the Royal Shakespeare Company’s classic, epic, modified story-theater Nicholas Nickleby and the in-your-face penny-dreadful glee of Shockheaded Peter…a striking, even captivating production…true to Dickens’ social-reform concerns and satiric humor”—San Francisco Chronicle
“wildly innovative and thoroughly engaging…The Neil Bartlett adaptation, which ran in London and New York before opening here, is such a wild and rollicking production, stylized to give the feel of a Victorian English music hall potboiler, that it encourages a playful approach from its audience…The characters mug outrageously and gesture large enough to be seen from high points all around the Bay Area…In the end, the production is a faithful retelling of the Oliver Twist story, but the unique and colorful style makes it a fresh and exciting experience.”—Contra Costa Times
“Beautiful…keen acting, clever writing and lurid music hall atmosphere…Bartlett has stayed true to the tone of Dickens’ novel while rigorously parsing it down to little more than two hours…Certainly, there could not be a more perfect Oliver than Michael Wartella. With a small frame dominated by silently pleading eyes, the actor helps give the production some emotional potency as our little lost tyke makes his way amid the thugs, avarice and filth of 19th-century London.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Closing its season with an astounding coup de grace, Berkeley Repertory Theatre is presenting Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, adapted and brilliantly directed by Neil Bartlett. This production wowed ‘em in London, Boston and New York, and the final stop of its U.S. Tour is here in Berkeley where it certainly wowed me—and I’m sure it will you too! The fabulous, ensemble cast of 13, playing multiple roles, presents an old-fashioned dramatization of the Dickens’ classic. And, it’s performed in no way that you’ve ever seen done before. The characters thrillingly come to life, and there’s plenty of humor and pathos performed on their own old-fashioned British stage. They’ve really saved this season’s best for last as you’ll positively be mesmerized by this theatrical surprise epic.”—KGO radio
“Dickens is at his rabble-rousing, hyperbolic best…The Twist that opened Wednesday at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre is a spin on Victorian melodrama complete with footlights, bare-bones theatricality and overblown acting that wouldn’t be out of place in a silent film…In the realm of Dickens’ thick darkness, director Bartlett does well…and occasionally, he creeps us out with actors playing a screechy violin, a disconcerting hurdy-gurdy and a serpent-shaped horn that blows no good…Everything in Oliver Twist is so dark, so mean and so biting, it’s funny—by design. For all the grimness, there’s abundant humor…Amid all the inventive direction and diverting theatrics, we hear Dickens loud and clear: There’s goodness in the world, and most of us are squelching or ignoring it.”—Inside Bay Area
“Intoxicating…as gaudy and menacing as a carousel in a disused fairground…Like a trip to San Francisco’s Musée Mecanique, the play transports us to another time and place of magical contraptions and sideshow freaks…this dirty finger-nailed firecracker of a production creates something both dramatically vivid and politically engaging out of its source material…The story generally careens along, devouring Dickens’ words at the same dreamlike pace that the mercurial Carson Elrod’s Artful Dodger leads Michael Wartella’s waifish Oliver through the streets of London. Every now and again, though, the action abruptly switches gear…a zany theatrical conceit which brilliantly mimics the physical sensation of turning the pages of a novel…Please, sir, I want some more.”—SF Weekly

About Blue Door

KPFA interview with Delroy Lindo (9MB mp3)
KCBS interview with Delroy Lindo (1.8MB mp3)
San Francisco Magazine interview with Delroy Lindo (PDF)
American Theatre interview with Tanya Barfield (PDF)
San Francisco Chronicle feature on Delroy Lindo
SF Bay Guardian interview with Delroy Lindo
“It’s an impressive local debut for all four major players…Delroy Lindo’s production is as expertly staged as it is performed…Barfield’s dialogue, with its curiously muscular lyricism, is full of unexpected rewards—sly turns of phrase, choice metaphors and well-chosen bits of African and African American lore.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Director Delroy Lindo has done a masterful job…this unusual story places questions of race, heritage and responsibility on a very personal level…It is a powerful evening, deftly presented by the two men, who are almost consumed by the characters they play, managing to give each specific and effective traits that make them painfully realistic and delightfully human. It is a remarkable acting job…a memorable, eloquent play that will be recalled as much for its clarity as it is for its message.”—Contra Costa Times
“cuts close to the bone…Barfield’s play is not a simple timeline of the impact of slavery on the black experience. Instead she finds ways to let the history flash from the moments in Lewis’ life, drawing the parallels between past and present that he always has been desperate to erase…Each moment seems full and ripe with an idiosyncratic sense of truth…Delroy Lindo, a noted actor making just his second directorial effort, has orchestrated this 90-minute piece with nimble precision.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Director Lindo guides his two actors through a handsome production…the performances are striking…when Barfield conjures the past through of Simon and Jesse, the play surges with passion, courage and lyrical beauty in the face of horror.”—Oakland Tribune
“Magnificent…what starts out to be a mild comedy, turns into an intense, dramatic experience. Absolutely brilliant performances are turned in by its two-man cast—stage and screen actors David Fonteno and Teagle F. Bougere. And it is powerfully directed by prominent actor Delroy Lindo, making his Berkeley Rep directorial debut a huge success…This is must-see theatre.”—KGO radio

About To the Lighthouse

NPR’s Artery looks inside the Lighthouse (2.9MB mp3)
San Jose Mercury News feature on Les Waters (4.7MB PDF)
San Francisco Chronicle feature on Paul Dresher
“Les Waters’ brilliantly orchestrated staging of Adele Edling Shank’s canny adaptation of one of the greatest chapters in 20th century literature lights up Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre…The entire dinner scene is, as one guest internally exclaims of the main dish, “A triumph!”…lovingly prepared and served to perfection by all…it’s a dish to be savored for years to come.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s fascinating world premiere adaptation echoes the radicalism of Woolf’s style. Director Les Waters, a master of the oblique, pushes his technique to its extremes, plunging us into a roiling sea of madly genre-bending juxtapositions that alternately startle and beguile us…Like the novel, the play has an essentially experimental soul. It takes thrillingly big risks that push the act of viewing into a new realm…this Lighthouse is shot through with flashes of genius that feel strangely intimate…a multimedia concert that encompasses text, music and video but is bounded by none of them.”—San Jose Mercury News
“breathtakingly wonderful…A true multimedia show, the play pushes the rules of theater in various new directions by blending dialogue, sound, scene, music and even silence into a captivating evening…To the Lighthouse unfolds languidly, taking its own sweet time to poke into the darkest corners of family life revealing secrets that often surprise even those who are keeping them…not only an evocative piece of storytelling, but a unique piece of art.”—Contra Costa Times
“Bright, beautiful, severe…Berkeley Rep’s Lighthouse shines in vivid, captivating adaptation…Playwright Adele Edling Shank, director Les Waters and composer Paul Dresher have risen to the challenge and done well by Woolf and her admirers…Waters’ command of multimedia combined with the adept efforts of his cast—headed by a radiant Monique Fowler as Mrs. Ramsay—create an invigorating, captivating theater experience.”—Oakland Tribune
“A delightful play…The acting by Monique Fowler as Mrs. Ramsay is worth the price of admission alone.”—KGO radio

About The Pillowman

KCBS interview with actor Matt Maher (4.8MB mp3)
San Francisco Chronicle feature by Sam Hurwitt
San Francisco Chronicle feature by Steven Winn
“ASTONISHING…Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman is a fairy tale wrapped in a nightmare told with uncommon mastery…a whodunit that keeps spinning outrageously out of control…with McDonagh’s trademark blend of outrageous violence and humor…Masterfully staged by Les Waters and brilliantly performed, the intricate tale resonates with questions about the art, reliablity and responsibility of storytelling…a remarkable script made riveting in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre production”—San Francisco Chronicle
“STUNNING…The Pillowman gives an entirely new spin to the notion of theatrical magic…McDonagh is a masterful teller of tales, with all the skills and tricks of a pub raconteur…If you see it, just be prepared for a breathtaking theatrical experience that, in an emotional sense, is not unlike mixing it up with a gaggle of pro wrestlers for a few hours…like listening to Jiffy Pop on a hot stove…you find yourself laughing insanely”—Contra Costa Times
“ELECTRIFYING…Abandon all hope of a good night’s sleep if you dare enter the macabre world of Martin McDonagh. You’ll be howling from start to finish—partly in laughter, partly in terror, usually both…There is not a false breath as the pitch-perfect ensemble channels the demons of modern society…Director Les Waters has transported the sick and twisted genius of playwright Martin McDonagh into the realm of the sublime…the only thing that may stop us from giving a standing ovation is that we can’t quite find our legs.”—San Jose Mercury News
“FASCINATING…Shockingly good…Macabre, perverse and compelling…here is a drama full of shocking details that carefully and quite skillfully navigates the division between exploitation, tragedy and dark comedy”—Oakland Tribune
“THRILLING, engrossing, hilarious theater…perplexing, outrageous, very, very funny, and more than a little scary…a fascinating who-done-it with Stoppard-class sparkling wit…Grimm Brothers on steroids…you’ll be well rewarded, find it impossible to skip the second act, and be marinated in mirth and suspense…a splendid production, directed by Les Waters, and featuring a fine cast.”—San Francisco Examiner
“FASCINATING…You’re going to gasp. You’re going to scream. You’re going to holler…The cast is fantastic…It should be in for a long run.”—KGO radio

About all wear bowlers

San Francisco Chronicle feature by Sam Hurwitt
“deftly executed classic comic shtick…Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford emerge from what looks like a silent film comedy version of Waiting for Godot into an updated Laurel and Hardy world onstage in their poignant slapstick romp on the edge of the existential void…their duet packs a considerable amount of pleasure into a beguiling 75 minutes.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Hats off to bowlers, Berkeley Rep’s hilarious new comedy…a wildly innovative and funny treat…insanely wonderful—heartwarming in all the right ways, elegantly performed and leaving you breathlessly in awe…a safari into silliness that everyone wants to take”—Contra Costa Times
“Existential terror takes us quite unawares amid the spit-up funny slapstick and dippy pratfalls in this 80-minute tour de chuckles…Bowlers tickles the brain (like a silent film homage) and the funny bone (like a fourth-grader at recess)…Frankly, its all rather odd and definitely kind of random, but ultimately it’s irresistible.”—San Jose Mercury News
“an extraordinary bit of staging…as astonishing as it is amusing…Clowning is often derided as kids’ stuff, but as Sobelle and Lyford demonstrate in all wear bowlers, there’s an art to making grown-ups ponder mortality while making them laugh like 10-year-olds…Imagine Beckett’s Waiting for Godot crossed with a Laurel and Hardy short and you have the essence of bowlers, a 75-minute excursion into absurdity of the highest order…avant garde, but in a completely accessible, often hilarious way.”—Oakland Tribune
“a fabulously comic romp…elegant and surprisingly deep. See it because it’s funny, because the performers are brilliant…these guys do all their own stunts, and it’s beautiful to watch…Eggs, newspaper, power tools, an especially rickety-looking ladder—all get used and abused to maximum comic effect…75 minutes whip by too fast in a blur of helpless, teary laughter.”—East Bay Express

About Passing Strange

NPR’s California Report with Colin Berry (9MB mp3)
San Francisco Chronicle feature by Sam Hurwitt
“an engaging coming-of-age story, told with the energy of an art-rock concert…clever, tuneful songs keep its pulse racing, in comic and unexpectedly affecting passages…It’s a portrait of the artist as a young bohemian whose spiritual awakening [is] a musical epiphany…As a song cycle, it’s technically impressive…As a play, it’s an entertaining travelogue…With the band cooking—on every form from gospel and blues to punk, cabaret, soul, minstrel, calypso and performance art—Stew sings in a powerful, flexible voice as comfortably capacious on a tender ballad as it is energizing in a down and dirty blues growl.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Stew rocks, yo! Musically, the singer/songwriter serves up one hot dish with Passing Strange…It’s the archetypal hipster-coming-of-age tale…the score is smokin’. Full of funkadelic feel-good anthems, it slides from punk to rock to blues like a good party mix…There is no end to the smart-aleck wit in this play”—San Jose Mercury News
“It took nearly 40 years, but we finally have the first coming-of-age-in-the-‘60s play that truly gets it right, with all the sex, drugs, radical politics and angst intact…Passing Strange expands the possibility of what musical theater can be…Stew leads a five-piece band, circling the stage through a score that defies you to remain motionless in your seat…a sparkling, engaging and highly entertaining show.”—Contra Costa Times
“Make no mistake, this is a terrific show…a musical in the guise of a concert…pulsates with the sounds of pop, rock, funk, punk, gospel, folk and New Wave…Stew and Rodewald create music that feels authentic—a rarity in this world of shiny, corporate musical theater.”—Oakland Tribune
“These days, Stew is in transition from rocker to theatre star and from the Bay Area to the Big Apple…This rocker in the midst of actors is creating a new kind of theatre, a spontaneous performance genre with few precedents outside of Hedwig and Hair…Tickets for the play are a hot commodity in the Bay Area, and if sales are any indication, this musical hybrid may prove this songwriter’s ticket out of obscurity.”—NPR’s California Report
“it looks as though everyone is still trying to figure out a category for it—rock musical? Performance art? Afro-Baroque cabaret? I have no idea what it is, but whatever it is, it’s terrific entertainment.”—KQED
“Stop reading right now and buy tickets to Passing Strange before it heads to New York…If more new musicals looked like this, we might yet see a revitalization of Broadway.”—SFist
“A pleasingly wayward young man’s odyssey…Strange is a lot like a live concept album…a vital, imaginative production [that’s] full of hilarious set-pieces, catchy songs, witty lyrics and dialogue…choreographer Karole Armitage contributes pop-culture riffs to a show that rarely sits still.”—Variety
“sometimes an artist’s reviews are so hyperbolically positive because there’s some fire under all that smoke. Take Stew, for example, who has created a piece of musical theater titled Passing Strange that paints an alternately uproarious and heartbreaking picture of the black experience from suburbia to bohemia…if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get your butt to Berkeley, plant it in a seat, and be wowed by one of this generation’s greatest talents.”—SF Bay Guardian

About Mother Courage

“Mother Courage is every bit as timely now as when Brecht wrote it…not only timely but prophetic…Tough, confrontational and uncompromisingly intelligent, it’s a vigorous concoction of brilliant acting, incisive prose, trenchant music and densely layered presentation in service of the greatest anti-war drama of the 20th century…Ivonne Coll’s tough, magnetically unenlightened Courage and a wondrously sardonic, slatternly Katie Barrett lead a very strong cast…The play tells the story but, just as Brecht intended, the songs make its import unforgettable.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Mother Courage isn’t just a great play. Right now, it may be the great play. With the conflict in Iraq raging on, and the anniversary of Sept. 11 fresh in our minds, this epic indictment of war and greed, and the hypocrisy that often cloaks both, could not be more timely.”—San Jose Mercury News
“darkly funny…timely, relevant and keenly observed…Coll’s Mother Courage has charm and presence…[she’s] a disarming singer and an expert at grief…Patrick Kerr as a temporarily defrocked chaplain, Jarion Monroe as a feisty cook and Katie Barrett as a snarly prostitute nearly steal the show.”—Oakland Tribune
“the show has a dazzling look [and] a stunning and effective new score by Gina Leishman…the play is filled with delightful musical numbers”—Contra Costa Times
“a resounding smash hit…The extremely talented cast of 12 is highlighted by a superb performance from Ivonne Coll in the title role.”—KGO radio

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