THE WOMEN OF LOCKERBIE (THEATRICUM BOTANICUM): 71% – BITTERSWEET
LemonMeter | Jul 06, 2012 | Comments 0 |
Susan Angelo, left, and Ellen Geer in “The Women of Lockerbie” at Theatricum Botanicum. Credit: Ian Flanders.
BITTERSWEET
Melora Marshall’s production uses traditional Scottish music and instruments to atmospheric effect. But there’s not much the director can do about the playwright’s ham-fisted storytelling. Instead of trusting her subject matter to speak for itself, Brevroot can’t resist sanctimonious commentary. (“Grief needs to talk” “Grief is a guest who stays too long”).
Charlotte Stoudt – LA Times
SWEET
The first LA production of The Women of Lockerbie was in 2007 at the Actors’ Gang. I remember it as a production that wasn’t as moving as it was supposed to be. The Theatricum production is much more powerful. A lot of the difference has to do with the two venues.
Don Shirley – LA Stage Times
SWEET
It’s a journey that is as simple as a couple of steps, but feels like it’s taken you miles by the end. It makes for a wonderful night at the theatre, that had me tearing up in the end.
Phillip Kelly – MadTheatrics
SWEET
Playwright Deborah Brevoort takes these facts and puts a human face on them—to unforgettable effect—in her 2001 drama The Women Of Lockerbie, particularly powerful this summer of 2012 as staged outdoors in the rustic Topanga hills of Theatricum Botanicum—about the closest approximation of the hills of Lockerbie that any American audience is ever likely to get.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA
SWEET
Melora Marshall’s direction brings out the heart and soul of the piece and her outstanding ensemble offer touching performances all round.
Candyce Columbus – LA Examiner
BITTER
Though Theatricum’s production is magically staged with little effort (the night I went, a hooting owl and chirping crickets served as secondary chorus, signaling the mysteries of nature and death), the ensemble’s acting is over-the-top across the board, a misstep that tramples authenticity and makes a relentless, clownish spectacle of the profoundly personal grieving process.
Amy Lyons – LA Weekly
THE WOMEN OF LOCKERBIE
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum
1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga
See website for performance schedule; Ends Sept. 29, 2012
Tickets: $20-$33; (310) 455-3723
Running time: 80 minutes
Filed Under: Featured • LemonMeter
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