Review: THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III at Soul Rep Theatre
by Sam Lisman - Feb 4, 2025
A year or so ago, two DFW theaters in neighboring cities both performed the same play, on the same days, at the same times. If you were willing to pay to use the Tollway, and depending on traffic, they were about ten minutes aways from each other. I chock that up to bad timing and poor coordination (although local theater directors tell me that the vast majority of their audiences are exclusive – they don’t go to other theaters – so these kinds of scheduling issues aren’t a big deal), and both groups handled it well (at least publicly).
Review: THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III at The Black Rep At The Edison Theater On The Washington University Campus
by James Lindhorst - Sep 12, 2022
Each member of the cast disappears into their character to tell Carlyle Brown’s story. Standout Coda Boyce as Ann Johnson captivates the audience with her first appearance on stage and provides a consistent performance throughout both acts. In her characterization, she struggles to separate her characters, Ann in Richard III versus her Ann Johnson persona complicating the backstage relationship she has with James Hewitt, played skillfully by Cameron Jamarr Davis. Wali Jamal Abdullah’s performance as Papa Shakespeare provides lots of charm and a few laughs as he attempts to play the middleman to repair the relationship between Ann and James as a Cyrano de Bergerac-esque communication go between. Eric Dean White’s arrogant characterization as Steven Price conveys a remorseless inhumanity as he will stop at nothing to bury the African Company. The remainder of the cast is rounded out by Alex Jay as Sarah, Olajuwon Davis as Billy Brown, and Dustin Petrillo as The Contable-Man and each provide an extraordinary performance.Â