CLICK HERE FOR RECENT REVIEWS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

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CLICK ON PLAY FOR AUDIENCE REVIEWS FOR THAT PLAY

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@six
21/One
Another Ugly Duckling Tale
BabyLove
Before the End

A Boy Called Noise
cruel & unusual
Curriculum Vitae
Eating Skeletons
Exiles
Fall and Rise of the Rising Fallen
Flamenco con Fusion
Fuse
Get It? Got it. Good!
Get Laughs or Die Tryin'
Irma at the Movies & Frozen
Just For Laughs
Kingdom of Not

Neon Man and Me

nEO sURREALIST sYSTEMS
Pomp & Circumstance
Readiness is All
Revolving Madness
sally: MIA / Sheepish
Secret Ruths of Island House
Sisyphus on Vacation
Stone Trilogy, Three Tales
Thanatics - A Rock Opera
This Lily Was (Fontana)
Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space
Tilting at Transformations
Visiting Bertha
Waiting for Bordeaux
Where the Sun Don't Shine
Woof, Daddy
Yellow Fever Express
Yorick & Co.

Play: Where The Sun Don't Shine
Reviewer: Lynn Symon
5 Stars
This is the best show I have seen all year!
Witty writing and fantastic acting all around. Go and see it if you can, but line up early. When I was there the place was packed!

Play: Thanatics
Reviewer: Ben Seeman
4 Stars
Wow! What an improvement on this second installment of Thantatics! The music (performed by Crooked Family) is still rocking and the expansion of the characters really keeps the show moving through the final scene, a testment to Mark Donnelly's superb staging and directing. Go Soma 7! Fight the power! Everyone should see this show!

Play: Thanatics
Reviewer: Cat Taylor
5 Stars
Great show! Music, story and performances all oustanding!

Play: Visiting Bertha
Reviewer: FringeBenefit
5 Stars
"Fugitive Kind", Tennessee Williams second ever full length play, was never given a proper staging until Lee Sankowich unearthed it from the archives and mounted it at both Marin Theatre Co. and Center Rep. awhile back. If you didn't catch it then - not to worry!!

Joe Besecker's "Visiting Bertha" pays homage to that Williams' piece, but is a more balanced, pertinent and succinct little gem. It totally holds its own as a very poignant piece.

Besecker captures both Williams' language and the essence and deprivation of the time. Bertha has all the strength and frailty you would expect of a Williams woman. But Besecker takes up where the novice Tennessee sadly left off, giving dimension to Bertha's character and further evolving themes of loss, futility, purity, resignation and hope through her compromised relationships with a few of the other secondary characters from "Fugitive Kind".

Besecker clearly saw something more interesting in what was going on in the 1930's Tin Pan Alley world outside the action of "Fugitive Kind", and takes us there with “Visiting Bertha”. It has made for a very touching and often funny play.

Maggie Grant, Jake Limbert, Lee Corbett, and Matt Socha all avail themselves beautifully. The piece is also well directed and staged by Janet O'Hair.

Don't miss it!!

Play: where the sun don't shine
Reviewer: Carlos Colombetti
5 Stars
Great show! That was my first experience in that theater, and I'm sure to return. Very enjoyable, funny, great satire. I especially liked the actor who played detective Giles. Very talented guy.

Play: Curriculum Vitae
Reviewer: Jesse Canning
4 Stars
Jimmy Hogg spits work-politics fire in his latest one man play, for almost fifty minutes Hogg sprints across a near prop-less stage that, with the right imagination could be any bachelor apartment eating corner in the world.

The entertaining scruffy Englishman belts out story after story disgustingly rich in truth, its almost hard to laugh knowing how spot on he is. Even bartenders working the tiny Toronto Cameron House couldn't help but smirk, cringe and laugh in their beer soaked hands.

Jimmy's few drawbacks are his use of modern events to prove points, such as recent big celebrity movie names. Most of the audience should be able to agree his play can be considered timeless without them. As well Hogg's cursing does work perfectly with most specific lines but sometimes doesn't work in other places. This of course is just being petty and splitting hairs.

Knowing that, Hogg's latest is pretty much flawless and shows Jimmy's enormous talent to get inside all of our working bodies and entertain us using our ridiculous memories of the 9-5 or 10-6.

Recommended to anyone in the humorous reality that is the work force, or if you need a reminder of your first job scrubbing floors before you landed that swell current position at the office cubicle. Everyone can relate to this, hilarious!

Jesse Canning
Toronto

Play: Get Laughs or Die Tryin'
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

This is the third OPM Fringe production I've seen, and while I've really enjoyed their previous work, I believe that this one is their strongest yet. Great cast, great skits. I was crying with laughter, and I really hope to see it again.

Play: Exiles
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

This play is still resonating with me. A strong, stark tale of being trapped in a teaching contract in Saudi Arabia. I thought that the script and the two actors were very strong, and John Rackham does a great job in both writing and performing the multiple characters with deft, bold strokes.

Play: The Kingdom of Not
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

With "The Kingdom of Not", Dan Carbone has created his own special universe that is as memorable as it is unique. This hilarious and moving solo show - which for me was about desire and what happens when you get what you think you want, whether it's a baby or some sugar - is bursting with deftly drawn characters and poetry that is rich and surreal. Very strong direction, script, and acting. The audience on the night I attended loved it, and I did too.

Play: The Stone Trilogy
Reviewer: Anon.
4 Stars
Ian Walker's "Stone Trilogy" exemplifies what one hopes to find at a Fringe Festival - a strong, unique emerging playwright. In each of the three plays, Walker offers up sarcastic wit, plots of both politics and human connection, and a poetic use of language. All three are well-executed, though I found "An Accident of Identity" to be the tightest all-around. There are some exceptionally honest performances throughout the evening. While there could be a stronger connection among the plays, each stands up well on its own. This is a true playwright showcase ­ not to be missed

Play: Before The End
Reviewer: John Rackham
4 Stars
Karen Fox has clearly worked hard to perfect this journey to a possible future of mankind. Akirame, the last woman, and the repository of the last of humankind's myths, songs and history, talks to us, her ancestors. Ritual from different cultures mix with advertising jingles and popular songs, all offered as having equal value to the last person alive on a ruined planet. Great attention to detail and, for me anyway, a moving climax.

Play: Eating Skeletons
Reviewer: Alice Blau
5 Stars
A fun script by Jen Rudin, but the acting is what makes this play a must see at the fringe this year. Danya Solomon's portrayl of Zoe, a child actress battling with its hardships, gives the piece such weight and unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes. Only two more shows... go see it.

Play: Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space
Reviewer: Jacqui Barnes
4 Stars
A complete hoot -and what I liked most about it was that the performers themselves were having a hell of a ball--audience participation was an optional extra.

Play: Thanatics - A Rock Opera
Reviewer: Sean Lundy
5 Stars
Remember that feeling you experienced after seeing Amelie for the first time, that warm happy sensation deep inside, well it is nothing like that. Thanatics is all about fun, you are transported to 2014 and told a tale of depopulation (a means of saving the planet of course). An hour later you are drying the tears from your eyes and have a huge grin plastered across your face. In short a quirky, witty and most enjoyable spectacle.

Play: where the sun don't shine
Reviewer: cruel & unusual
5 Stars
the most striking thing about WTSDS are the design elements. high concept by any standards, they're unbelievable for a fringe show with its move-'em-in'n'out requirements. set in the 1950s when TV reality was black & white like our moral certainty, the sets & costumes are black & white! how cool is that? beautiful, hand-painted back-drops cleverly hung off — what was that? a clothesrack? — genius! the painting of the water cooler with hallucinogenic venetian blind effect is worth the price of admission — I want to buy it! the visuals are detailed, moody, fascinating. but wait, there's more. a cast of 8 has developed a consistent style of deadpan, grotesque, ironic delivery backed-up for the most part with full physical commitment. ensemble work that works! as actors buzz in and out of quick scene shifts that are a pleasure in themselves. there's real love of theatrical machinery at the service of homoloving, anti-surveillance, pro-vegetable scripts that put "twilight zone" tr!
opes to good psycho-political use. that's entertainment.

Play: Visiting Bertha
Reviewer: MB
5 Stars
Great Play - Very professional for a Fringe production. Loved the script, the actors, and the staging. Highly recommended. Don't miss this one at the Fringe this year.

Play: Yorick & Co.
Reviewer: Kevin Odell
5 Stars
I will be honest. I came to "Yorick" because I had friends in it; and while their history has been good, if it wasn't, that would be alright too. This was not the case.

Yorick & Co. was one of the funniest plays I'd seen in a while. Each role was perfectly cast, the script wonderfully written, everything seemed to come together. And when I later found out that 45 minutes was cut from the original script, I was amazed. You couldn't tell.

I would recommend "Yorick & Co." to anyone who's looking for a good belly laugh as well as a story with a good heart. Top marks!

Play: 21/One
Reviewer: Anonymous
5 Stars
Check out the review I found in today's SFWeekly!
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2006-09-13/culture/stagecap.html

Play: cruel & unusual
Reviewer: Diane
5 Stars
Wow! This is serious theatre; theatre that treats a serious topic in a very compelling way. Four short plays about torture: well-written, well-performed. Disturbing, fascinating. See this one.

Play: Yorick & Co.
Reviewer: Kevin Odell
5 Stars
I will be honest. I came to "Yorick" because I had friends in it; and while their history has been good, if it wasn't, that would be alright too. This was not the case.

Yorick & Co. was one of the funniest plays I'd seen in a while. Each role was perfectly cast, the script wonderfully written, everything seemed to come together. And when I later found out that 45 minutes was cut from the original script, I was amazed. You couldn't tell.

Play: Tilting at Transformation
Reviewer: Nancy Person
2 Stars
The acting was enjoyable, but the intermingled plays structure was irritating. The main play an ancient Egyptian slave fantasy was campy and trite. There were some clever and funny bits that made me think this group could do a lot better.

Play: Neo-Surrealist Systems
Reviewer: Nancy Person
5 Stars
I've proabably seen these guys 5 years running, and this was one of their best ever. A large cast of performers creates the feeling of an absurdist vaudeville review with comedey, anti-bush music on ukelele and bells, full frontal male nudity, and other strange, but wonderful bits. Don't worry the paint comes off overnight!

Play: Curriculum Vitae
Reviewer: Nancy Person
5 Stars
a really clever, funny monlogue about a Brit
slackers job search. Lots of references to Jaffa cakes, council jobs,
and Sainsbury's for homesick Brits. Good tips about how to lie on your
resume. So well-written, that it was as much pleasure to listen to, the 2nd. time as the 1st.

Play: Thanatics
Reviewer: MaryJane
5 Stars
I've seen the future and it's Thanatics. Literally. It's about weird death politics in the future where the plan is to kill off the population in order to save the earth. This starts a suicide art cult that originates in San Francisco. Narrated with killer rock song after killer rock song. I don't know where these guys came from but it was take-this-shit-on-the-road good...or find-find-a-producer good. The cast, both the dudes and the chicks, are hot and uber-talented. The music is like Queen meets Bowie meets Alice in Chains. I'd like to see a longer version where they could really let it breathe a little...it's very fast paced...which I guess is good for the Fringe. I highly recommend this show!

Play: Where the Sun Don't Shine
Reviewer: Nancy Person
5 Stars
Fun and funny. a hilarious spoof of the "Twilight
Zone", with great props, sharp faux-melodramatic acting (and
hairstyles), well-written and fast paced. Lots of fun. A gentle
reminder not to bring home any accursed objects from Chinese curiousity
shops.

Play: Get It? Got It? Good!
Reviewer: sffringer
1 Star
Oh, man. Terrible theater. Didn't I already see this type of thing in the early 1980s? But better? Also, white man playwright says, "hey man, I'm not sexist or nothing" from the mouthpieces of multiple characters in a defensive strategy that can in no way cover the fact that his whore archetype is decades dusty.

Play: Irma at the Movies & Frozen
Reviewer: Carol Blecker
5 Stars
Loved them both--honest, funny, smart, sad, hopful--everything one-person theater (my favorite kind) is about for me.

I thought about them both since I saw them.

Irma--My friend sitting next to me said--"NNo air, she's read my mind!" good for you Irma, to get over your panic attack by getting mad and walking out!

Etienne (Frozen)--such a powerful story about being a child and then a caregiver to a parent who loved and diminished you. I loved momma too.

GO SEE THEM

Play: Baby Love
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

Christen Clifford has talent and energy to burn, and she blazes in BabyLove. I enjoyed this show so much: it's frank and funny, Christen is an excellent actress, and it's very well directed. She does justice to a topic that so many women must deal with, but one that is never addressed due to the taboos surrounding sexuality in our society - I commend her for her fearlessness and honesty.

Play: Thanatics -- A Rock Opera
Reviewer: J. Weissman
5 Stars
A Must See for anyone liking a show that's got great music, great performances, good staging and a fast paced fun filled story.
Hopefully Keith Haddock writes more like this and becomes a moving force in Musical Theater & Film. The Ravens are stellar.
The direction is lean. Move over Hedgwig.

Play: Curriculum Vitae
Reviewer: Amy Ballinger
5 Stars
My friends and I caught this performance a while back in Toronto and we still laugh about it! I totally recommend seeing Curriculum Vitae. Jimmy Hogg is a very talented entertainer who completely captivates the audience with his energetic and hilarious take on the working world. Go see it for yourself- you'll be glad you did!

Play: Eating Skeletons
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

A very talented trio of actresses, with excellent energy and timing and such great chemistry between them that they were extremely enjoyable to watch.

Play: Pomp and Circumstance
Reviewer: Ken Bullock -- Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle
5 Stars
Courtroom dramas regularly feature duelling attorneys--but what if it's a courtroom comedy, and the antagonists are father and son?

David Rouda, a fourth generation San Franciscan and himself a civil litigator (and TV writer) received acclaim and a "Best of Fringe" Critics' Award at last year's SF Fringe Festival for his play, SPERM WARFARE.

This year, he's entering the Fringe lists again with POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE--"Family Law has never been so dysfunctional!"--a 60-minute version of a full length script that will open later this year in an SF theater, having run 5 weeks in July-August at the Shelton Theatre downtown.

The fun will be to watch the 17-actor cast play fast and hard with the action wound to the breaking point--comic and dramatic tension to equal the exhilarating rush of The Fringe, with a slew of shows playing on a plethora of stages (some door-to-door) at the same time. Audiences barely finish applauding before running off to see another. It's the Fall event of the busy Bay Area theater community, a scene that itself includes over 300 companies and projects, bringing troupes from all over the world to perform at their edgiest.

Play: Pomp and Circumstance
Reviewer: S. Michael Perlmutter -- FORALLEVENTS MAGAZINE
5 Stars
Strong performances…Glows with modern twists on Shakespearean and biblical conundrums…Alliterative allusions abound……Ecstatic, erotic and slightly unorthodox…Shtickle (Productions) could be this year’s legal team to watch.” S. Michael Perlmutter

Play: Where The Sun Don't Shine
Reviewer: Craig Kensek
4 Stars
A clever staging that pays silent tribute to shows such as The Twilight Zone. The performers were talented. The main character had that droll Rod Serling quality that was an integral part of The Twilight Zone. The aliens were hilarious. The parodies work on several levels. There's some steamy dance that works it's way into the production. Bravilna, Liz Anderson! You won’t be rolling in the aisles with laughter during the show. The show is quite funny, and you may find yourself laughing, “Where the sun don’t shine.”

Play: Get It? Got It. Good.
Reviewer: Craig Kensek
2 Stars
Get It? Got It? Get Out!

Don’t both with this collection of three short plays. It left less of an impression than Paris Hilton’s underfed attempts at bonmots on late night talk shows. I was not moved. I did not laugh. I did not chuckle. Much of my time was spent looking at my watch. A fellow reviewer wrote that this is a “performance that makes you think.” You will be thinking, “Why did I choose this performance to attend?” It's not the fault of the performers. They just didn’t have a lot of script to work with. Pass on this puppy.

Karen Fox is a very talented actress, with a compelling stage presence, excellent physicality, and a beautiful voice. And I thought that "Before the End" was a fascinating take on what could remain after we have nearly destroyed the earth, from the food we eat to the songs we sing.

Play: Another Ugly Duckling Tale
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

A short, simple story told with honesty and grace. Ms. Barnes is lovely to watch, and I was drawn in. I could have seen more - I wasn't unsatisfied, but I would have been happy to spend more time hearing what she has to say.

Play: Woof Daddy
Reviewer: Mia Paschal

Excellent on so many levels: the script, the commitment and talent of the actors, the direction. Strong, compelling work from beginning to end. I really hope to see this a second time, and I hope that many Fringers will see this production.

Play: Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space - 2
Reviewer: thomas gladysz
5 Stars
This is the best play I saw at the Fringe Festival. Classical theater, pop music and contemporary politics are all referenced in this fast moving tour-de-farce. This playwrite really nots how to Take Care of Business.

Play: elvis in space 2
Reviewer: andrea
5 Stars
loved it! a great time with funny, fast-paced writing. wonderful cast. great singing by elvis and stevie was a hoot.

Play: A Boy Called Noise
Reviewer: Mr. Ho
4 Stars
Amazing work from a dynamic your artist. I love the mixing of genres.

Play: A Boy Called Noise
Reviewer: Sam Quinn
5 Stars
Julia Allen is great. Her story is compelling, the dialog is fresh and resonates with all of us, gay or not who have felt the primal desire to put everything on the line in order to get revenge. I love the the Legend of Billie Jean ending.

Play: Secret Ruths of Island House
Reviewer: Jacqueline Barnes
5 Stars
Brilliant portrayal of old age- it made the hairs on my neck stand on end--unmissable.!

Play: exiles
Reviewer: jacqueline barnes
4 Stars
A graghic account of living in Saudi Arabia as a foreigner.It caught the atmosphere tremendously and made you think that perhaps life in the UK isn't that bad after all.Wellworth seeing, I was gripped throughout.