September 16, 2008

Anna Livia receives her first and perhaps only review in Chicago, and it’s a lulu. The guy named Adler or Alden or something says that the directing was misbegotten, the lighting amateurish, and the playwright’s imagery confused. I have nothing to say, because he is right. In defense, I would counter that the imagery was confused not by the playwright, but by the production, though the reviewer is innocent of any possible knowledge of that. I was infuriated and sickened by the one bad notice of Edward the King in New York, because the reviewer was a snide liar with an agenda unrelated to the play on the stage. Before this, though, I can only sigh and shrug, because the directing was misbegotten (I hadn’t noticed the lighting, in particular) and if the play was better than that, there was no way of telling. The reviewer singles out Tim’s performance for praise, as I have done as well. I think it is better to have had a disappointing production and a disappointing (though expected) review than none at all, so I utter no further complaint.