by Gail M. Burns If you are a theatre geek, seeing an Ubu play is a big deal. If you are not a theatre geek, it will be really hard for me to explain why, but I will take a crack at it. When “Ubu Roi” by Alfred Jarry (1873-1907)…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2007 I am going to write a detailed review of this extraordinary production, but due to some personal stresses I am behind schedule with my reviews and this show only has one more performance here in the Berkshires. If you have the time, please…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2007 “Those closest to the Murphys found it almost impossible to describe the special quality of their life, or the charm it had for their friends. They were utterly captivating.”– Calvin Tomkins, Living Well Is the Best Revenge Villa America is a piece of theatre manufactured…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 2007 To my great surprise, I got to see Dissonance on the Nikos Stage at the WTF. And I liked it very much. Coincidentally, exactly a week earlier my younger son had turned to me and asked “What does dissonance mean?” And even though I know…

Here is a conundrum: while I laughed a lot at “Lounge-Zilla!” I didn’t actually have fun.  The curtain call was one of those “Phew! Glad that’s over” moments.  And the show was barely an hour long. I think perhaps I am: A) too old (younger members of the audience seemed…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July 2007 If you are now or have ever been a teen-aged girl, you must go and see So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz! which has only two more performances at the Daniels Arts Center on the Simon’s Rock campus as part of the 2007 Berkshire Fringe Festival. If you…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 2007 “I dance ’til the people applaud. The art’s thrown in extra.”– a vaudeville hoofer I am always attracted to the peculiar. Tell me that you’ve never seen anything quite like it, and I’m there. Partly this has to do with spending my formative…

by Gail M. Burns If you have studied dramatic literature, you know that Alfred Jarry’s “Ubu roi” holds a seminal place in the inexorable transition from 19th to 20th century theatre.  If you haven’t studied dramatic literature, you have probably never heard of it.  And I would guess that the…