Photo by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Rep
The New York Times isn’t known for gushing enthusiasm, but how about yesterday’s Critics Notebook by Bruce Weber:
Like ballplayers, theaters sometimes get hot, rapping out hits with unlikely regularity, and the Rep, 41 this year, is on fire.
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Alas, then, why do I dislike so much of what they produce? I have been an avid theater fan for 30 years, and moved here from Philadelphia two years ago. In Philadelphia there was an abundance of thought-provoking, insightful theater, but through two plus seasons of the Berkeley Rep I find the productions to be well-done but the play selection to be pretty bad.
Of the productions listed in the NY Times article (I haven’t seen Tiny Kushner yet) only The Vibrator Play was a play at all and it was good but not great. Wishful Drinking was worthwhile, but not a play, and American Idiot was, I’m not sure what to call it, but also not a play.
I have spoken to others who feel the same way and have dropped their Rep subscriptions (which we may do after this year). Perhaps I, and these others I know, are not in the mainstream, but I would say the rave reviews for the Rep are akin to praise for the “emporer’s new clothes”. If anyone knows where we can find great thoughtful theater, I sure would like to hear about it.