Mark Dundas Wood

Irish Rep Co-founder Ciarán O’Reilly Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape—subtitled “A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life in Eight Scenes”—spins a tale that hardly seems comedic. It depicts the undoing of a burly fireman named “Yank,” who shovels coal in the stokehole of an ocean liner: work that’s unrelentingly exhausting, soul-sapping, and grimy. The play […]

Family dramas have been a staple of American theater at least since Eugene O’Neil thought, Hmm, maybe I’ll write something about blustery old Dad, woeful old Mom, and that doomed brother of mine. The genre doesn’t appear to be in danger of disappearing anytime soon. And, at times, it seems that the more dysfunctional the

It’s almost inevitable. At each performance of Heartbreak Hotel, a theater piece by New Zealand playwright and performer Karin McCracken (co-created with director Eleanor Bishop), someone is likely to show up expecting a show about Elvis Presley. Instead, they find themselves immersed in a semi-autobiographical performance experience investigating the agonizing (and often prolonged) psychological and

“Here we go. Here comes the sober. I hate this part, when the dam breaks and the questions come pouring in: How long was the blackout? Hours? Days? How did I get this cut? …” Those words are spoken by Josh, protagonist of Jake Brasch’s new play, The Reservoir, at Atlantic Theater Company (February 5