The Unseen Hand 1999 SF Fringe Festival Reviews

		`The Unseen Hand` `by Sam Shepherd; Dead Horse Theatre Ensemble, San Francisco`
		1999 SF FRINGE FESTIVAL AUDIENCE REVIEWS
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Click on Title for Reviews AAAAH!(a sketchy romp) Alligators from the Sewer Awake and Dreaming Bardo "A" Go Go The Bastard Chronicles Bethelda In My Office Black Light Kabuki or Listen Now ... Brown and Black and White All Over But Stevie Nicks Understands- PartIV A Call From Peter Mahoney Coyote and the Great Albino Bat Cry of Aradia: Ritual Theatre for the Modern Woman Deconstructing Julie Destination Unknown Dirty on the Inside The Divine Box Duke Ellington and Me The Fatty and Pinhead Show Faust/Faustus Flying Home Hanging On Your Every Word Highway to Helen Home Plate Horse Tales Juicy Tidbits Killing My Lobster's Comedy Show Knock On Wood Membership Is Never Free Moog Bandits Gave Me the Clap Mumble In Numbskull My Head Was A Sledge Hammer Naked Foam and Other Objects in Predicaments No Fences, a midwestern tale Nudity Is Contagious Popcorn Anti-Theater on the Mexican Bus! The Purple Sage Right This Way Into the Fire Right-On Insane Asylum Romance: A One Man Show Sarcastic Fables Shakespeare's Mums Start Trekkin' Step Up Straight Ahead Talking With Angels The Tango at the Hotel Santiago Think of a Pencil Tired Cliches The Tragic Mellow Dramatic Death of Doris Dinghy The Ugly Duchess The Unseen Hand Woyzeck		1play = THE UNSEEN HAND 2name = Nick S. Oppen 3email = 4rating = 4 Stars 5review = This show is really something to see! Some of it is so smooth it made me uneasy. The writing is kind of simple, I guess, like a lot of Shepard, lacing the stage with characters that we, as Americans, already know. But he does a fantastic job. Willy, the space freak, had an anxiousness that was hard to keep absorbing (thank goodness he passes out so often!), and it's remarkably familiar to see the rustic gang slip back into the pace of the plains when they get a break from Willy's intense plans. I guess this play is about freedom and action, and conversely, opression and passivity. Jeff Taubt plays a great fanatic as a violent, brilliant teenager, who has no patience for the thoughtful plans of his elders. What I can't figure out is whether the three gunslinging brothers were TOO easy to watch. At the end of the play I couldn't figure out if i was being lulled into inaction by those guys' cool acting, or whether I was being made fun of for being as passive as I am. But more than, I walked out to the street thinking that I'd better settle my conscience by myself, not under the consultant aid of a play. Very thought provoking! play = The Unseen Hand name = Hunter Cutting rating = 5 stars review = Yow! The good stuff! play = The Unseen Hand name = Lolani Whitehead rating = 4 stars review = very entertaining. A must see! 1play = Unseen Hand 2name = Paul Dunkley 3email = dumitch@cwix.com 4rating = 1 Star 5review = When are straight people going to figure out that Sam Shepar is realy dull and really has very little to say?????? 1play = The Unseen Hand 2name = The Unseen Hand 3email = kieroab@webtv.net 4rating = 4 Stars 5review = Very good, not yet great. Not yet, because I think by the end of this run it will be a great show. It has all of the elements, a strange but strangely human show, some excellent physical performances, and some truly compelling characters. Some of the actors need to work on their vocals, for the acoustics in the place aren't ideal, and while much of the physical action stands out, that makes the few moments that don't work a little jarring. Great work particularly by The Kid and Blue Morphan. Definitely see it, it's going to keep getting better. 1play = the unseen hand 2name = SMauldrey 3email = 4rating = 4 Stars 5review = this play moves like a fever. it's hard to tell what's real anymore. desperation has become a genre. who has the stamina holds the gun. the comedy of looking back on that horror you seem to have been able to forget about.
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