Praise for Rockaby & Godot

Saturday, January 27, 2007 8:23 AM

Most amateur theater is awful. I awakened this morning with a corner of my soul filled....I want to use the word SATISFIED, by your effort.

Beckett took the risk of confronting the ugly giant boredom (the bane of bad theater) straight on. What we find over there is what our souls are longing for, revealed, opened out. These include the sorrowful realization that reassurance isn't coming, but also the odd perfection of a turnip. Also the sense of beings impacting each other in ways that are too complex to ever understand. I won't go on. These elements revealed are just what we find missing in so much theater.

After Roberta Nubile's haunting h'ors d'oeuvre, Jason Phelps fed us a pervasive naturalness, feeding the ensemble, spreading out a sense that this was really happening, on earth, not some other planet. The absurdity needs that to shine. Don Smith and Jason had a human rapport, with so much movement in it, the sense of old friends who hardly know each other. Don's character was our buddy, and we need one in that world. John Pacht's absurdity had a fullness, and as is so often the case with great silent parts, he almost stole the show. His idiot-face stare was like a Russian Icon to me. I'd get drawn into what was being said around him in the first act, and then turn my gaze back to his face staring out, and just crack up with uncomfortable delight. And Steve Magowan brought a clownish delight in the absurdity of the play that it must have. His stylized gestures, nicely set up by Jason's flowing physicality, just shined. His selfishness had swing. What a character. A miserable beast of a clown. Hard to pull off. When he comes in blind the next day, its over-the-top fun.

I loved Butch Cartularo's set, the lovely moon spreading along like a balm.

— Erik T., Burlington, Vermont

Monday, January 29, 2007 9:00 AM

My roommate attended one of the Shelburne shows and told me I HAVE to go next weekend. She told me it was spectacular and that the performances and acting were sensational. I'm an English major, and am so excited that these challenging plays are being done so well. I can't WAIT to see the show. My roommate is very worldly and knows good acting when she sees it; she was very impressed.

— Anonymous, Burlington, Vermont