Press > Press coverage > Praise for past productions > Season 07/08

Press coverage

praise for past productions

 

season 07/08

About No Child…

  • Interview on NPR’s Forum
  • Interview on KPFA’s Against the Grain (mp3)
  • San Francisco Chronicle feature by Jesse Hamlin
  • San Jose Mercury News feature by Karen D’Souza
  • Contra Costa Times feature by Pat Craig
  • “Nilaja Sun’s tour-de-force performance as a classroom of multiethnic Bronx high school students, several teachers, the principal, janitor and others, sometimes seemingly all at once, is astonishing…Smoothly staged by Hal Brooks, the crisp, comic and moving 70-minute show is passionate about the need for art in the schools and eloquent about the potential of children too often left behind.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “A bravura act of performance…The deficiencies of the No Child law may be grimly sobering but Sun keeps us laughing in the face of despair. Her undaunted sense of optimism as she bounces across the stage as a tireless champion of the arts, the next generation and the fate of citizenry at large, is beyond infectious…It doesn’t just make you want to applaud. It makes you want to hold someone accountable for leaving so very many children behind.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “A remarkable and delightfully entertaining show that makes its statement without once moving into sermon territory…a paean to teachers, particularly those in difficult circumstances.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “The most amazing solo show you will ever see…Nilaja Sun is able to bring to life each student’s undisciplined attitude, jumping from one character to another with lightning speed and so effortlessly. You’ve never seen a performer like her before…Don’t miss seeing Nilaja Sun in her award-winning one-woman show, No Child…, now playing at Berkeley Rep through June 1st. It’s the best solo show I’ve seen in years.”—KGO radio
  • “Sun shines in extraordinary solo show…More than just entertaining, No Child… is inspiring. You exit the theater vibrating at Sun’s frequency, which is amazingly high, and you want to channel that energy into making life better for students…the best possible kind of activist theater. Using humor, theatricality and some of the most precise and thrilling physical stage work I’ve ever seen, Sun becomes the entire adult and student population at Malcolm X High School.”—Theater Dogs

About Figaro

  • San Francisco Chronicle feature
  • San Jose Mercury News feature
  • Contra Costa Times feature
  • “Figaro brilliantly mixes drama and opera, humor and pain…The music of Mozart fills Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, lifting spirits with beautifully sung passages from The Marriage of Figaro. The masterful comic actors of Theatre de la Jeune Lune set off gales of laughter with a twitch, flinch, futile gesture or slow-motion pratfall. But nothing in Jeune Lune’s Figaro quite prepares you for the impact of a live-video close-up of a proud man’s face as he’s told about his wife’s infidelity. The genius of Figaro, which opened Tuesday as another jewel in the crown of the Rep’s 40th season, [is] the inspired work of Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp, who lit up the Rep with Molière’s The Miser two years ago…Figaro touches chords as deep as the heights to which it soars on Mozart’s glorious melodies.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “Inspired…an array of wild stories of romance, mystery, mistaken identity, and true love…The adaptation of the two scripts, by Steven Epp and Dominique Serrand, exploded from the Berkeley Rep stage Tuesday in a colorful burst of high-tech theatrical fireworks and a dazzling display of imagination…It is no less than a lavish theatrical feast, and a worthy successor to The Miser, a landmark production by Theatre de la Jeune Lune the last time the company visited Berkeley.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “High tech and high art mesh in Figaro at Berkeley Rep…Jeune Lune, a Minneapolis-based ensemble widely hailed for their revival of Moliere’s The Miser last year, is famous for casting off on adventures but Figaro takes their experimental aesthetic over the top to scoff against the dictates of form…the music invokes sheer bliss.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “A new take on a classic can leave an indelible mark by changing viewers’ perception on both the original work and the world around them. It is this type of success that the Theatre de la Jeune Lune achieves in Figaro…The production doesn’t just captivate its audience for its three-hour duration; it does so in a revolutionary manner, providing a different perspective through which the audience thinks about and views the two characters of Pierre Beaumarchais’ trilogy…The chemistry between them enraptures throughout the production.”—Daily Californian
  • “Cleverness and beauty abound in Figaro, a work of high art and low pretension…the chance to hear beautiful, unamplified voices in the Roda is reason enough to buy a ticket. This is not opera lite. This is serious opera mixed in with a funny, sometimes ruminative play about aging and our roles in society…This is a signature piece from the celebrated Minneapolis-based theater company.”—Theater Dogs

About TRAGEDY: a tragedy

  • Playbill story
  • “Will Eno concocts dazzlingly comic flights of verbal absurdities as four TV reporters attempt to cover what might be the final setting of the sun—or perhaps not—in Les Waters’ crisply staged, 75-minute American premiere of a serious comedy that seeks to probe a world without meaning…A very sharp cast’s handling of Eno’s surreal wit make for a very funny apocalypse.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “A wickedly funny satire…Director Les Waters and the cast have done an incredibly accurate job of capturing not only the sound, but the feel of a nightly news broadcast, which not only heightens the humor in the piece, but also underlines the delicious absurdity of the entire premise.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “Tragedy is a shining farce on the unbearable darkness of being…One of the hottest playwrights around, Eno worships at the church of the absurd…Les Waters’ keenly understated production thrums with an undercurrent of anarchy that’s as uproariously funny as it is profoundly sad…The playwright so ferociously captures the surreal banality of television, the lonely pools of silence welling up between stammered inanities, that it takes a few beats to realize Tragedy really has less to do with the media than the message.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “A guffaw-inducing satire on media ineptitude…Les Waters’ stylishly minimalist production for Berkeley Repertory Theatre reveals that a news report about an event as seemingly unnewsworthy as day turning into night is symptomatic of something much more disturbing. That’s where the tragic element comes in. It’s really about humanity’s inability to express through words, let alone come to terms with its self-destructive streak…The gravitas of the performers’ speaking style lends an extra absurd quality to Eno’s already absurd lines.”—NPR’s Artery
  • “A charming display of witty satire in the face of Armageddon. Sharply written and perfectly performed, this 75-minute play serves as a big ol’ poke in the eye to media in an age of geopolitical uncertainty, pending disaster, and a preoccupation with ratings.”—Theatermania

About Wishful Drinking

  • NPR interview with Carrie (9.6MB WAV)
  • San Francisco Chronicle interview with Carrie
  • Diablo Magazine interview with Carrie
  • SF Bay Guardian interview with Carrie
  • J Weekly interview with Carrie
  • “Hilarious…Fisher knows how to write wickedly comic material and, better still, how to deliver it. It’s also quite brave, in the take-no-prisoners attitude she applies to herself and her family—a kind of beat-the-tabloids-at-their-own-game gambit…It isn’t every solo show that can boast a supporting cast that includes Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, George Lucas (all seated in the audience) and Paul Simon (on tape). Carrie Fisher’s does…Welcome to the curious world of tabloid theater.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “Addiction, mental illness, movie-star parents, bad marriages, really bad hair…Carrie Fisher, right? You got it: Princess Leia has recycled her nightmarish life yet again, this time putting it onstage in the form of an exceedingly clever one-woman show called Wishful Drinking. Berkeley Rep, which brought Passing Strange into the world a year and a half ago, is now giving the hapless daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher an opportunity to be drop-dead funny about a string of personal crises so horrific that the only alternative to laughing at them is slashing your wrists in sympathy.”—Wall Street Journal
  • “Convulsively funny…A lightsaber-sharp comedy about the dark side of celebrity…the zing of this titillating tell-all lies in its embrace of theater as therapy session…Wishful proves the farce is strong with this one.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “Wildly funny…Right there in Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, in front of George Lucas and everybody, she talked candidly about sexual excess, drug excess, celebrity excess, marital excess…she does it so cleverly and entertainingly, and with such charm and engaging personality that it becomes a wonderfully memorable evening…a wry commentary on the contemporary arts of recovery and survival.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “Amazing show…my highest rating of four hats! And hats off to this fabulous, funny, wild ride through showbiz with a remarkable woman! I love this show and so will you!”—Jan Wahl, KCBS radio / KRON TV / Alice radio
  • “Unbelievably hilarious…She’s an absolute riot…Hurry to the box office as fast as you can and get your tickets to Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking…You’ll double over laughing at the skeletons in Carrie’s closet.”—KGO radio

About Taking Over

  • NPR interview with Jesse Thorn
  • Interview with Danny in the New York Times
  • Interview with Danny in the San Francisco Chronicle
  • Interview with Danny in the Oakland Tribune
  • Interview with Danny in the SF Bay Guardian
  • “The remarkable Danny Hoch lights up the stage like a dynamo, illuminating the entire Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg through nine impeccably drawn, vividly diverse characters (including himself) in an angry, funny, nuanced and provocative 100-minute look at the perils, complexities and injustices of gentrification. Sharply staged by Tony Taccone for its world premiere, Hoch’s latest solo tour de force is hard-hitting, riveting, gritty and irresistible.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “Stunning…Danny Hoch is an artist who paints political pictures with a blowtorch—searing portraits from all sides of an issue where everyone gets burned…Watching Hoch’s show is like leafing through a sketchbook and enjoying his vividly drawn and colorfully flawed characters. The characters sketches are so well drawn, in fact, each really belongs in an elegant frame, surrounding it with equal portions of rage, irony, humor and clarity.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “The gentrification of his native Brooklyn provides a terrific focus for Danny Hoch’s patented brand of multi-character, multi-ethnic solo theater in Taking Over. Helmed by Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone, this intermissionless show is brash, richly characterful and frequently very funny…Hoch and Taccone have every gesture and beat tuned to perfection…Hoch is in such sharp form here it’s startling to realize this is his first solo stage show in a decade.”—Variety
  • “Flawlessly performed…a gem of a show starring Danny Hoch, who you can be sure is from New York…It’s brilliantly directed by Berkeley Rep’s artistic director, Tony Taccone. Danny Hoch is one of the most energetic performers I’ve ever seen, and his comedic ability is priceless…Don’t miss this dynamic comic entertainer…You’ll laugh your head off with appreciation.”—KGO radio
  • “Let there be no question about Danny Hoch’s genius. To throw around a few adjectives, the man is fascinating, funny, provocative, entertaining and powerful…In a hefty 100 minutes, Hoch plays nine characters (including himself) of different races, cultures and genders…a collection of deft characterizations and finely tuned accents…Taking Over is an extraordinary evening spent in the company of one man who fills the stage with compelling people and a compelling argument for living a more examined life.”—Theater Dogs

About Argonautika

  • San Francisco Chronicle feature by Steven Winn
  • Theatermania story by Brian Scott Lipton
  • Playbill story by Ernio Hernandez
  • “Stunningly imaginative, engagingly comic, affecting and invigoratingly immediate…Jason and the Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece, and his ill-fated romance with the virginal sorceress Medea, is a 2 ½-hour treat in its Berkeley Rep West Coast premiere. Graced with beautiful, deceptively simple design, inventive stagings, beguilingly wry puppets and a thoroughly engaging cast, it’s a modern take on an old tale of ambition, deception, heroism, love and unintended consequences.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “The adventure of a lifetime…wonderful, wild and fanciful…The experience of seeing the show really is like going on an adventure into some uncharted theatrical territory, and returning with memories to treasure for a long time.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “Argonautika fuses the elegance of a ritual with the full-throttle thrill of adventure…In its sublime West Coast premiere at Berkeley Rep, Argonautika revels in not just Zimmerman’s trademark visual fantasia but also her mastery of form and motif…The visionary director once again sets sail for the age of gods and monsters and channels the power of myth to touch us where we live today…This is a ballet of details, danced to perfection.”—San Jose Mercury News

About after the quake

  • San Francisco Chronicle feature by Rachel Howard
  • Steven Winn’s column in the Chronicle
  • Interview with Frank Galati on NPR’s Up Front (5.7MB mp3)
  • Feature story in Hokubei Manichi
  • “Spellbinding storytelling…Frank Galati skillfully interweaves two evocative short stories by Haruki Murakami and a haunting cello-and-koto score in a visually stunning, slyly comic and subtly affecting, multifaceted 80-minute reflection on fear, love, loneliness and the transformative powers of art…The emotional epicenter of Quake, like its reflections on the power of narrative, lies beneath the surface, where it continues to send out evocative tremors well after the play has ended.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “beautifully introspective…Comic book heroes battle Kafkaesque insects in a mysteriously poetic evening of theater…Haruki Murakami maps the fault lines of love, fear and loss in After the Quake [and] Galati has a genius for transforming literature from page to stage…he gently watercolors the stage with the surreal images and wry post-modern wit that make Murakami’s eccentric narrative as eerie as it is elusive…The exquisitely chiseled performances give the play a sense of delicacy that grounds Murakami’s leaps into the fantastical.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “It’s an incredible gift wrapped in a very unusual package…a seductive theatrical invitation into the slightly off-kilter, pop-culture-rich world of Japanese author Haruki Murakami…surreal at times, quite fanciful and filled with sharp turns and dangerous curves…Galati’s direction is crisp and filled with wonderful surprises…The acting in the piece is charmingly open and inviting—and often a bit tongue-in-cheek.”—Contra Costa Times
  • “An intellectual pleasure…There’s plenty to enjoy, from Galati’s simple, fluid staging on James Schuette’s dark, elegant set (think of a hip advertising agency lobby beautifully lit by James F. Ingalls), to the warm, charming performances from the cast. Best of all is the live music performed by Jason McDermott on cello and Jeff Wichmann on koto (a stringed instrument that, like the accordion does for Paris, immediately conjures Japan)…Notions of anxiety, safety and finding equilibrium on shifting grounds course through each of the stories.”—Oakland Tribune

About Heartbreak House

  • “smart and bracingly funny…Laughter beats at the heart of this Heartbreak House…The deliciously eccentric characters are sharply limned and the punch lines hit with the unerring accuracy of Shaw’s masterful blend of comedy of manners with acute social and economic satire in Associate Artistic Director Les Waters’ crisp, well acted and exquisitely designed staging.”—San Francisco Chronicle
  • “As you watch, nearly breathless with laughter, you don’t think much about the soul tweaking George Bernard Shaw gives you in his Heartbreak House…the play, getting an elegant and timely revival by Berkeley Rep, remains as fresh and contemporary as it was when the last bits of Victorian innocence were falling away in the trenches of the war to end all wars…Les Waters has infused the play with a delightful spirit of fun and high style that begins with a wildly innovative, yet elegant, set designed by Annie Smart…The acting was nothing short of superb…And all of that is presented hilariously, and painlessly to an audience that, with only a little bit of introspection, can see itself in the very characters being poked at in this saga of love, marriage, sex, money and warfare.”—Contra Costa Times / Bay Area News Group
  • “Les Waters’ exquisitely bracing revival christens the Rep’s 40th anniversary season on a disquieting note, leaving the viewer simultaneously electrified and terrified by the play’s relevance. By turns brightly comic and intellectually rigorous, this Heartbreak House tickles the funny bone as keenly as the brain…the playwright’s condemnation of an apathetic generation smiling in the face of oblivion now seems more prophetic than ever.”—San Jose Mercury News
  • “A delightful 40th birthday treat…This social satire is beautifully performed by a well-chosen, extremely talented cast of ten who provide a perfect evening of classic theatre. Besides glamorous costumes of the period, there is a beautiful set, which received applause when the curtain rose…It’s theatre you’ll truly enjoy.”—KGO radio

About our 40th birthday

back to top