More of the Same: An Examination of Relevance in Contemporary Theatre.

By Patrick Hurley

I set out to write a review of The Geffen Playhouse’s world premiere production of Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, written by Amanda Peet, who is probably known to most from her film and television work as an actress. I grappled with the same questions that accompany most of my theatre experiences in Los Angeles, the largest of these being why.  I decided after dozens and dozens  of reviews, and years of patronage in the theatre, to voice an honest response about my experience with this play.  And that turned into a much bigger exploration. I don’t usually make personal statements when writing on this blog.

That changes today. As this may very well be my last review. 

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Lysistrata Update Removes Comedy

By Patrick Hurley

It was 411 BCE, comedic playwright Aristophanes presented to the people of Athens his new comedy Lysistrata, a radical and uproarious account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian war by getting all women to refuse to have sex with their husbands until they all agree to stop fighting.

The Humans Rings True

By Patrick Hurley

The waning of tradition, the attenuation of the American middle-class, all wrapped in the fractured hope of connection, pierces the thick air of familial discord in Stephen Karam’s Tony Award Winning play The Humans, playing now at the Ahmanson Theatre.

This Long Day is Worth the Journey

By Patrick Hurley

Eugene O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical play Long Day’s Journey into Night is a lumbering, loquacious and lyrical voyage into the dysfunction of family.