Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company
Written by Jeffrey Hatcher
Based on the novel by John Kennedy Toole
Directed by David Esbjornson
Original music by Mark Bennett
Music direction by Wayne Barker
Nov. 11 – Dec. 20, 2015
Avenue of the Arts
Boston, MA
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Review by Kitty Drexel
(Boston, MA) I did not enjoy A Confederacy of Dunces. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good theatre. Let’s discuss. Continue reading
Photo by Meghan Moore.
Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Book, Music and Lyrics by Barry Kleinbort
Based on a play by Jeffrey Hatcher
November 28 – December 21, 2014
50 East Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA
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Review by Craig Idlebrook
(Lowell, MA) It’s one thing to create a play that mimics the feeling of being trapped in a conversation with someone who is batty; it’s another to make such a play entertaining. As the play 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti demonstrates, the difference is all in the storytelling prowess of the off-putting character. Continue reading
Photo Credit: Kyler Taustin Photography
Presented by Simple Machine
By Jeffrey Hatcher; Adapted from the novella by Henry James
November 8-23, 2013
The Taylor House Bed and Breakfast
50 Burroughs St. Boston MA 02130
The Gibson House Museum
137 Beacon St. Boston MA
02116
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Good News! The run has been extended.
Saturday, November 23 at 4:30 PM, The Taylor House Bed & Breakfast
Sunday, November 24 at 7:30 PM, The Gibson House Museum
Review by Danielle Rosvally
(Boston) Alright, so, here’s my deal: I wouldn’t say that Henry James is my nemesis mostly because I’m not ready to commit to him that deeply (a nemesis/hero relationship is, after all, a long, complex, and fraught one with ups, downs, and side-plots). But I will say this: Henry James is at least on the super team of literary villains who have plagued my academic career. Continue reading
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Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
By Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Mark Shanahan
October 24 – November 17, 2013
50 East Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA
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Review by Craig Idlebrook
(Lowell) I didn’t know there had to be rules about flashback nostalgia stories, but I think I’ve found one….if only I can decide which one.
First, let’s define the genre. Have you ever seen the movie A Christmas Story or The Wonder Years? Then you know the kind of show MRT’s Mrs. Mannerly is attempting. It’s the adult narrator looking back on his precocious tween self, with a wistful smile, to share lessons learned. Continue reading
Presented by Underground Railway Theater
Produced by Underground Railway Theater
By Katori Hall
directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian
January 10 – February 3, 2013
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
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Review by Gillian Daniels
(Cambridge) Sometimes, there’s a moment in a show that can make or break it. When that moment comes, the audience will divide accordingly. Maybe this turn is cheesy, too scary, or just a little off-kilter with the rest of the story. When it happens in At the Mountaintop, and the audience will know when it does, it redefines the sort of narrative being watched. The show starts out smart but softens into a peculiar if interesting mess.
Katori Hall’s two-man play concerns the late and well-loved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Maurice Emmanuel Parent) and his conversations with a hotel maid, Camae (Kami Rushell Smith). Like A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher, performed by The Salem Theatre Company last year, Central Square Theater’s At the Mountaintop concerns two personalities bouncing off each other in a contained space. Also like A Picasso, one happens to be famous and respected while the other, an intrigued woman, has slipped
through the cracks of history. Continue reading
Photo credit: Salem Theatre Company
A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher, Salem Theatre Company, 4/26/12-5/19/12, http://www.salemtheatre.com/on_stage.htm.
Reviewed by Gillian Daniels
(Salem, MA) With nowhere to go, two characters bounce off each other, alternating between affection and violence. Their relationship follows a familiar trajectory. The World War II bunker where both are trapped is a well-mined setting, too. Still, it’s satisfying to watch Pablo Picasso (Stephen Cooper) and his German interrogator, Ms. Fischer (Linda Goetz), scrape each other raw in The Salem Theatre Company’s production of A Picasso.
Adrianne Krstansky as Virginia in Three Viewings. Photo by Andrew Brilliant/ Brilliant Pictures.
Three Viewings by Jeffrey Hatcher, New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 11/27/11-12/18/11, http://newrep.org/three_viewings.php.
Reviewed by Gillian Daniels
(Watertown, MA) Three Viewings is the kind of theatrical outing that I cannot recommend highly enough, a play where writer Jeffrey Hatcher deftly and comically attempts to capture the variation and nuance of human nature. Continue reading
