PRESS
THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY
:: "Under the direction of L. Zane Jones, The Two-Character Play rises up from the dust of obscurity and drags the audience downwards through Williams’ characteristic Southern madness. It’s a challenging work, for the company and for the audience, but one well worth exploring." ~ Cat McCarrey, City Arts Magazine :: "A disturbing-yet-rewarding piece of avant-theater perfected and made accessible by one of Seattle’s best companies." ~ Dylan Teague McDonald, The Daily UW :: "...a work that will leave a lasting impression. Civic Rep’s production promises to haunt your summer, filling the days following with a sense of delicious unease." ~ Cat McCarrey, City Arts Magazine STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
:: CityArts Magazine Pick of the Week :: The Stranger Recommended Theatre :: "...the intimate proceedings on Angie Harrison’s spartan set are dominated by Robin Jones’ unsparing, haunting Blanche. Slender and fragile-looking, with a cap of tousled dark hair, she is fighting for her life.Tightly wound and imperious at first, Jones affectingly peels off the thinnest layers of emotional defense until there is no membrane left." ~ Misha Berson, Seattle Times :: "L Zane Jones’ production at New City’s Shoebox Theater asks different questions and offers us new slivers of light into the dark tragedy of Williams’ masterpiece. The staging is simple, elegant, evocative. She establishes a world where domestic violence and wild lovemaking fold into one another, a world increasingly haunted by ghosts who will pour your drink and pull fabric over your head. I learned so much about this play through this production. I often hear theatre artists talking about “breathing new life into classics” but that is a lot harder to do than to dream. Civic Rep does just that in this DESIRE." ~ Marya Sea Kaminski, Associate Artistic Director, Seattle Rep "Brutality in The Light - Civic Rep's 'Streetcar Named Desire' " :: "...the last and very real reason you should go see this production while it lasts is Robin Jones in the role of Blanche. Rather than a pitiful descent into madness, Jones plays Blanche with nuance and humor while the demons circle in on her. She plays action, pushing up on the weight of hopelessness heaving down on her. And with Sam Read’s earnest Mitch, we see her find hope. So often that relationship is sent up as a manipulation, played as though Blanche is angling Mitch into marriage. But in this production, we see hope. Two lonely people who might actually be a perfect match, until Stanley destroys the prospects. And then we watch Robin Jones navigate Blanche’s images and memories and paralyzing fears with such great specificity. We don’t see a “crazy woman.” We see a woman trying to make sense of an unbelievably cruel fate." ~ Marya Sea Kaminski, Associate Artistic Director, Seattle Rep "Brutality in The Light - Civic Rep's 'Streetcar Named Desire' " |