ARMS AND THE MAN: (HELPFULLY) HIT AND MISS

ARMS AND THE MAN: (HELPFULLY) HIT AND MISS

In the theatre, style is one of the trickiest things to get right. This United Players production of George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man is hit and miss, which is a good thing in a way: it helps to clarify what works and what doesn’t when approaching Shavian...
NETWORK: MADDER THIS TIME

NETWORK: MADDER THIS TIME

I’m so much angrier now than I was when I first saw the movie Network — which is all about anger — in 1976. Many of us these days live in a perpetual state of political fear, frustration, and fury, which makes United Players’ decision to produce playwright Lee Hall’s...
THE REPLACEMENT WIFE: COLOURING OUTSIDE THE LINES

THE REPLACEMENT WIFE: COLOURING OUTSIDE THE LINES

It’s exhilarating to see somebody colouring outside the lines for a change. Aaron Bushkowsky’s new play, The Replacement Wife, is a reality-bending comedy about marriage, death, and the fickle nature of love. Its pieces didn’t come together for me in a substantial way...
THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH: GENEROSITY WINS OUT

THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH: GENEROSITY WINS OUT

Despite a bumpy start and hitches along the way, this journey is more than worth it. This United Players production is the premiere of a new adaptation, by Naomi Wright and director Sarah Rodgers, of Charles Dickens’s novella, A Cricket on the Hearth. The story, which...
AN IDEAL HUSBAND: I’D MARRY IT

AN IDEAL HUSBAND: I’D MARRY IT

Because theatre has so many moving parts, several of which are moving actors, who come complete with independent sensibilities, stylistic adventure in the theatre is a dangerous game: if you don’t get all those moving parts coordinated, the show will crash in...