Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2009 In April of 1921 popular author Elizabeth von Arnim*, then 55, widowed from her first marriage, divorced from her second, and being wooed by a handsome young man 30 years her junior, rented a medieval castello at Portofino, Italy with two other women.…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, April 2008 Alas, I must inform you that the title is the funniest part of this “satirical revue.” Frankly, when you give a show a title involving the words “brain death” and “expiring minds” you better be pretty damned sure its hilarious or you are…
Reviewed by Deborah E. Burns, October 2007 Everyone knows the old song, but the grandparent visit is far from what it once was. In a lively production by the Ghent Playhouse, “Over the River and Through the Woods” by Joe DiPietro examines the gulf between generations, celebrates age and family…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, May 2007 “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” – Mark Twain I am sure Philip King had…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, March 2006 I have to say that I was disappointed to learn last month that I would not be seeing A New Brain, the show long-advertised for this slot in the Ghent season. Alas, auditions didn’t turn up enough people to produce the show properly, a…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, January 2004 “We’re talking about a style that became a way of being for a lot of people. English cultural history between the world wars is, in some extremely large part, Noël Coward. He put himself into the narrative the English tell themselves about their…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, September 2003 The frost was on the pumpkin, the wind was wild, and wispy streaks of grey cloud whipped past a luminous waxing Gibbous in the eastern sky. What a perfect night to walk into the Ghent Playhouse and see Dracula! On a versatile and gloomy…
Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2002 Sometimes, comedy writers just wanna have fun. Sometimes it is good to pick up your pen and be funny just because you can, not because you have to or because you are trying to sugar coat a darker theme, but because making people…
