Ernest Kearney

GRINNING FROM LEAR TO LEAR Redux, adjective From the Latin, returning, from reducere to lead back To be brought back or returned, especially in a new way. When it comes to repackaging Shakespeare, nothing’s off-limits. Indian director Vishal Bhardwaj’s noir-flavored trilogy (Maqbool, Omkara, Haidar [or Macbeth, Othello, and Hamlet]) turned the plays into modern crime sagas. for…

EXIT, PURSUED BY A PRODUCTION In taking on a production of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Play On Shakespeare at Skylight Theatre is to be commended. The last of the Bard’s plays-–Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, portions of Pericles, and The Tempest—present substantial difficulties in staging. But, for my money, The Winter’s Tale sits at the…

HARE FORCE ONE With White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour currently at the Fountain Theatre, what you encounter is an interesting and provocative theatrical game, a hybrid of “Story Theatre” and immersive Role Playing Game (RPG). On stage is a sparse set that displays the sharp divisions of red and white conveying…

THIS BIRD AIN’T SO STUPID There is a strange little niche tucked away in the theatre world which, for lack of a better term, could be called “Travesty Theatrics.” It’s when a classic drama is taken and reworked as a caricature, parody, or mockery of itself. (More on that later.) A new, actor driven company,…

A STRIKINGLY RESPECTFUL TAKE WORTHY FOR A MUSEUM The Antaeus Theatre Company first began offering audiences superbly mounted productions over a quarter of a century ago, and for their continued success in doing so, they are recognized as one of the true jewels in the crown of the Los Angeles theatre community. An actor-driven company,…

ONE MAN. 60 MINUTES OF DISASTER. EVERYTHING FAILS MAGNIFICENTLY! Ron Campbell is a clown all right. This is apparent from his first pratfall, which occurs about eleven seconds into his show, How to Fail. In this day and age of radical, assaultive clowns who prey on their audiences’ psychological foibles and are more comfortable staring…

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ SELDOM SEEN PLAY SHOWS WHY IT’S SO SELDOM SEEN It can be a curse to start one’s literary or dramatic career with a masterpiece. Doing so serves to intensify the expectations of one’s readership or audience while inflating the artist’s creative anxieties. Towards the end of his life, author of the classic antiwar…

HIGH NOTES AND HARD KNOCKS: SHOWSTOPPER CHARTS THE SONGBOOK OF SURVIVAL Singer songwriter Gary Stockdale has a loyal but eclectic fan base. His long-term devotees date back to legendary TV producer Steven Bochco’s cutting-edge and sadly short-lived musical police drama Cop Rock, in which he played a drug dealer who stood before the bench and…