Posts Tagged ‘South Coast Repertory’
tokyo fish story
Monday, March 16th, 2015Sushi Wa Jinsei. Sushi Is Life … in Kimber Lee’s “slice-of-sushi” dramedy tokyo fish story, now getting its World Premiere at South Coast Repertory, and like the raw-fish-&-steamed-rice confections created by master chef protagonist Koji, Lee’s latest is one tangy treat.
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KNEEHIGH’S TRISTAN & YSEULT
Monday, February 2nd, 2015When you’ve taken Broadway and the world by storm with your magical, imaginative, supremely theatrical adaptation of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter, the question is what to do for an encore? Well, if you’re the Cornwall-based Kneehigh Theatre, the answer is to revive a decade-old company hit, then take it on the road, which is precisely why Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory is the place to be over the next few weeks for Kneehigh’s magical, imaginative, supremely theatrical adaptation of the legend of Tristan & Yseult.
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THE WHIPPING MAN
Wednesday, January 14th, 2015On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House, at long last ending what is still the deadliest war in United States history. Five days later, President Abraham Lincoln was dead, the victim of an assassin’s bullet. Coincidentally, during this fateful week in our country’s history, Jews in both North and South observed Pesach, the festival of Passover, celebrating the freeing of the Israelites from centuries of slavery in Egypt.
Inspired by this bit of historical happenstance, and armed with the knowledge that there were indeed Jewish slaveholders (and Jewish slaves) in the pre-Civil War Deep South, playwright Matthew Lopez sat down to write The Whipping Man, a gripping, eye-opening look at three Jews—two black, one white—in the days just following Appomattox, a play now brought to compelling life in a spectacular South Coast Repertory debut set to transfer next month to the Pasadena Playhouse.
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ZEALOT
Wednesday, October 29th, 2014The phrase “ripped from today’s headlines” has rarely been more applicable than it is to Theresa Rebeck’s gripping, provocative new drama Zealot, a South Coast Repertory World Premiere sure to inspire post-performance discussion as highly-charged as the action unfolding at the temporary headquarters of the British Consul in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where Zealot is set.
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VENUS IN FUR
Wednesday, October 15th, 2014Provocative, daring, audacious, intriguing, and sexy as all get-out, David Ives’ Venus In Fur has at long last made it to L.A.-adjacent Costa Mesa following dozens of regional productions, giving its arrival at South Coast Rep bona fide event status. That director Casey Stangl and stars Jaimi Paige and Graham Hamilton deliver the goods … and then some, makes a drive down to Orange County an absolute must for any theater lover worth his or her salt.
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THE TEMPEST
Wednesday, September 10th, 2014Illusions so mystifying that you’ll give up even trying to figure out “how they did that.” Original songs by a Rock-&-Roll Hall of Famer performed by a live R&B/Alternative Pop band. Direction that makes adjectives like “imaginative” or “ingenious” or “inspired” seem tame. Performances and production design to match. All of these combine to make Aaron Posner and Teller’s touring adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest a must-see even for those might never wish to sit through another The Tempest again.
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TARTUFFE
Wednesday, May 21st, 2014You may have seen Molière’s Tartuffe before (what theater lover hasn’t?), but you’ve never seen a Tartuffe quite like the stunningly conceived, directed, designed, and performed production now dazzling audiences at South Coast Repertory—or at least those willing to see the Molière classic through a strikingly different lens.
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FIVE MILE LAKE
Thursday, April 24th, 2014Some plays grab you from their first moments and hold you in their grasp till the lights go out. Others sneak up on gradually until at a certain point you realize that you’ve been hooked … and hooked you stay till the final curtain. Rachel Bonds’ Five Mile Lake, the latest World Premiere from South Coast Repertory, falls into the latter category, and quite a small wonder of a play it is.
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