Infinite Life

Infinite Life, by Annie Baker, in a production directed by Jackie Maxwell, opened at Coal Mine Theatre last night.  It’s a play that has garnered acclaim in both London and New York.  It’s not hard to see why.  It’s the sort of play that perhaps appeals to theatre people (including critics) more than it does to the general public, though it’s not without wider appeal.  It requires great skill and precision to bring off precisely because nothing really happens.  There’s no narrative thread for a general audience to grasp.  That said it is remarkably effective on its own terms.

Brenda Bazinet, Kyra Harper, and Jean Yoon in InfiniteLife_CoalMineTheatre_byElanaEmer_EE_1589

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September 2024

sept2024Well late August has been a bit thin in terms of live performances but September. sees things back with a bang.

    • Opera Revue has a Verdi and Weill show at the Redwood Theatre.
    • Coal Mine Theatre is opening with Annie Baker’s Infinite Life which played to rave reviews in London and New York.  Previews are on the 6th to 8th with opening on the 10th.  The play runs until the 29th.
    • Crow’s opens their season with Ibsen’s Rosmersholm.  Previews run from the 3rd to the 10th with opening night on the 11th.  The run continues to October 6th.

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What does Hedda seek?

What does Hedda seek?  I think that’s the question at the heart of Liisa Ripo-Martelli’s adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler that opened at Coal Mine Theatre on Thursday evening.  It’s not heavily adapted.  It’s still Kristiania in the late 19th century and the environment is as dull, provincial, stuffy and “respectable” as can be.  The language is a little more direct than Ibsen especially in the way men speak to women but still more is left unsaid than not.  Presented with the audience on three sides of the tiny Coal Mine space it’s intimate to the point of, entirely appropriate, claustrophobia.

(L to R) Andrew Chown, Diana Bentley (back), and Leah Doz in HeddaGabler_CoalMineTheatre_byElanaEmer__0510

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Prophecy Fog redux

Jani Lauzon’s one woman show Prophecy Fog, currently playing at Coal Mine Theatre, is essentially a remount of her 2019 show at The Theatre Centre.  I still feel pretty much the same about as I did then; i.e. it’s an excellent and very personal show that will hold different meanings for different people.  I was curious to see how my perception might have changed after four years in which ever weirder conspiracy theories have become mainstream so that stories of space aliens seem the least of it.  Wes Anderson seems to have felt much the same in his latest film.

ProphecyFog2023-photobyDahliaKatz-69

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