Review Roundup: AT THE OLD PLACE World Premiere at La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of At the Old Place, by Rachel Bonds, directed by Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, running in the Mandell Weiss Forum July 5 - 31 (press opening: Sunday, July 9 at 7:30pm). Tickets available at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010.
The cast features Heidi Armbruster (Broadway's Time Stands Still; Off-Broadway's Disgraced) as "Angie," Brenna Coates (Off-Broadway's The Wolves) as "Jolene," Benim Foster (Broadway's Barefoot in the Park) as "Harrison" and Marcel Spears (The Old Globe's Picasso at the Lapin Agile) as "Will."
Let's see what the critics have to say!
SDGLN (Jean Lowerison): Director Jaime Castañeda keeps the show moving. I wish he had also given the actors microphones. The Forum does not have the best sound system, to begin with, and Spears' Will spent considerable time in a chair facing away from my seat on house left, leaving me and several friends in the same section wondering about some of his lines.
San Diego Reader (Jeff Smith): At the Old Place could use some rethinking. It's quite static and could stress deeper subtexts, so that the characters, not their traits, would draw us in. That said, what seems like a soft, three-and-a-half hander turns out to be quite experimental, even daring in an age allergic to first-hand observation.
San Diego Tribune (James Herbert): And Coates' bitingly funny, no-prisoners portrayal of Jolene captures a reflexive aggression that the character seems to wear as protective armor; she utters almost every sentence with the barest hint of a laugh, as if she's living in a permanent state of incredulity.
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