by Christina Waters | Jul 30, 2015 | Home |
Here’s a sneak peek of my review of The Liar—the entire piece is in this week’s GTWeekly.Â
Santa Cruz Shakespeare‘s nimble new production of The Liar is the sort of searing live comedy that blows all things digital right off the map. Every single actor in this splendid production is remarkable. That needs repeating. Each and every actor adds sparkle. Nothing interferes. There is no down time. There are none of those, er, moments where you look at your cell phone and wonder how much longer the play will go on.
Romping through a very brisk 2 1/2 hours, the entire ensemble ran away with the opening night audience. Not since Richard Ziman’s Falstaff have I laughed so hard. Director Art Manke—whose Bach at Leipzig remains one of my fondest theater memories—took an exceptional cast and set it on fire. You always know what’s going on and every minute of it is delicious. Strap yourself in. The Liar is a triumph—a show smart enough to disarm skeptics and sexy enough to delight audiences in need of pre-Candy Crush fun.
by Christina Waters | Jul 29, 2015 | Home |
It’s hard to believe that Karen Sinsheimer is gone, so fierce was her energy and passion. In all things really, but especially for the arts.
I can still see her and Audrey taking meetings, using their influence, cooking up an official Shakespeare Festival site, something that would remain as a legacy for great theatrical productions in the future. Such irony, isn’t it? That not only is the Festival she helped to co-found no longer associated with UCSC, but the very Festival Glen named for her and actress/director/professor Audrey Stanley—the Glen itself will be gone as a Shakespeare venue after one more month of performances.
Karen was a larger-than-life beauty, whose graciousness was genuine. She was comfortable about the choices she’d made, and she made everyone around her feel the same way. Her passing sadly underscores the changes that have come to the beautiful redwood glen she loved and protected for so long.
It was a rare pleasure to have known her. [photo: Kimberly Kavish]
by Christina Waters | Jul 26, 2015 | Home |
Rapid-fire fun, witty over-the-top wordplay, lavish costumes, brilliant acting—you must put Santa Cruz Shakespeare‘s The Liar on your August calendar. We laughed ourselves senseless on opening night and gave thanks for the astute casting, directing, and savvy choice of a mid-summer night’s dream!
Life’s too short NOT to see this delicious spectacle.
[Shown here is the insanely talented Brian Smolin, who tears up the stage as the feckless liar, Dorante.]
by Christina Waters | Jul 7, 2015 | Home |
Soif’s Grand Opening celebration happens tomorrow, Wednesday, from 4-6. For everybody!! Come check out the new remodel, enjoy comp samples of the new menu, buy yourself a nice glass of wine and salut this team who invested in a vibrant downtown Santa Cruz.
Soif.
by Christina Waters | May 1, 2015 | Home |
Yes, but who—or what—is the deus in this taut probe of artificial intelligence?
Directed by sci-fi screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina slowly turns some of the major questions of futuristic metaphysics (e.g. Philip K. Dick) around in its spare, elegiac hour and 45 minutes. With complete precision the film moves like a beautiful Swiss watch, involving only a few moving parts. It is impossible to stop watching.
Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson is Caleb, a young programmer selected by billionaire über scientist (read Victor Frankenstein) Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) to take part in a variation on the Türing test (is an artificial creation capable of exhibiting seamless consciousness). Helicoptered to Nathan’s remote compound (you can feel Mary Shelley haunting the wild and rocky periphery) Caleb meets both the creator, and his creation Ava (Alicia Vikander) a disturbingly perceptive composite of beauty and circuitry. Caleb has seven days in which to decide whether Ava is the real deal. Is she capable of self-awareness, emotion, humor, and deception? Without revealing crucial plot details, the short answer is hell yes! What happens, however, as we gradually gain increasing knowledge that things are not what they seem (more…)
by Christina Waters | Apr 30, 2015 | Home |
Once upon a time people went out to galleries, museums, private homes, and lots of other places, to enjoy seeing artwork.
Today people go out to rented spaces, retail shops, and studios to support artists.
In other words, people go out and congregate in places filled with all of their friends to support the work of another one of their friends. The results can be scorchingly bad. Privately, people will admit that they’re weary of having to support the arts, weary of traipsing through one more opening of work that would embarrass a beginning student. Everybody knows it’s become an obligation, rather than a pleasure. These sorts of vanity fairs fail to surprise, delight, or provoke controversy. They’re designed to bolster egos and provide soothing reassurance.
The word “support” makes this party-like activity seem like a good thing, like helping a disabled person cross the street. Or throwing a Tupperware party. But supporting such vanity activities actually neutralizes genuine art-making, and levels the hard work, brilliance, and inspiration of real artists.
Art in the era of digital reproduction has been reduced to so much hobbyism, therapy, narcissism, and social activist reassurance. Instagram, ergo sum.
At these politically-correct gatherings—people come in, and go out very very quickly (more…)
