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Arts Reviews 2,477 results
Shit-faced Shakespeare
Highbrow meets lowbrow for an irreverent happy hour take on A Midsummer Night's Dream
Reviewed by Stephanie Carll, Feb. 4, 2016
"Melissa Brown: Future Past" at Big Medium
Layered images and layered narrative add something extra to PrintAustin
Reviewed by Seth Orion Schwaiger, Feb. 4, 2016
Viceroys' Topdog / Underdog
This black-owned artist collective makes a passion-fueled, powerful debut with Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer-winning drama
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Feb. 4, 2016
Salvage Vanguard Theater's Denim Doves
Adrienne Dawes' play takes the idea of postapocalyptic sister wives in an original, amusing direction
Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbe, Jan. 28, 2016
Southwest Theatre Productions' Exit 27
At its heart, Aleks Merilo's play about boys exiled from their cultlike church is about mind control
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Jan. 28, 2016
"Cali Thornhill DeWitt: This Magic Moment" at Farewell Books
Nineties youth rebellion meets millennial "meh" and resigned participation in this solo show
Reviewed by Seth Orion Schwaiger, Jan. 28, 2016
Austin Playhouse's Disgraced
Ayad Akhtar's drama delivers a raw, powerful conversation about race without the usual distractions
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Jan. 21, 2016
Shay Ishii Dance Company's Dancestry ... Vivid
Audiences gained much from this program's re-creations of historic dances by Isadora Duncan, Loïe Fuller, and Lucia Dlugoszewski
Reviewed by Jonelle Seitz, Jan. 21, 2016
The Radiant Road
Author Katherine Catmull elegantly summons a fairy-tale timelessness for this YA story of teen anxieties, fairies, and creativity
Reviewed by Rosalind Faires, Jan. 21, 2016
Austin Symphony Orchestra With Jennifer Frautschi, Violin
The ASO's latest musical tour of Russia took a literary turn
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Jan. 14, 2016
Charles Atlas / William Basinski
The artists' live layering of video and music immersed audiences in images of suffering and transformation
Reviewed by Madeline Irvine, Jan. 14, 2016
La Follia's Start the New Year With Bach!
The baroque ensemble's first concert of 2016 delivers life lessons along with the beautiful music
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Jan. 7, 2016
"Alyssa Taylor Wendt: Compartments of Desire"
Personal strength, theatrical animism, and sexual dynamics dominate this exhibition
Reviewed by Seth Orion Schwaiger, Jan. 7, 2016
Jessi Cape's Top Reads of 2015
Circling the Sun tops a list of novels featuring uncommon women
Reviewed by Jessi Cape, Dec. 31, 2015
Jay Trachtenberg's Top Reads of 2015
A Brief History of Seven Killings leads a list of works exploring crime and politics abroad and at home
Reviewed by Jay Trachtenberg, Dec. 31, 2015
Joe O'Connell's Top Reads of 2015
Paradise Sky and The Best I Recall head a list of stellar Lone Star books
Reviewed by Joe O'Connell, Dec. 31, 2015
Jesse Sublett's Top Reads of 2015
The Theater of War leads a list that reminds us how ancient lessons about war continue to ring true today
Reviewed by Jesse Sublett, Dec. 31, 2015
"Shakespeare in Print and Performance" at the Ransom Center
This exhibition celebrates the Bard with rare artifacts from the Ransom Center's holdings
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Dec. 31, 2015
"Robert Jackson Harrington and Hector Hernandez: Impossible to Tell" at grayDUCK Gallery
Plastic hues and triumphant assemblages convey the belligerent optimism of American-style consumerism
Reviewed by Seth Orion Schwaiger, Dec. 31, 2015
Holmes for the Holidays
Spend the yuletide at 221-B Baker Street, where the library is stocked with new books about Sherlock
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Dec. 23, 2015
The Sherlock Holmes Book
This encyclopedic overview of all things Holmesian will add a literary elegance to your coffee table
Reviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner, Dec. 23, 2015
Sherlock Chronicles
A look behind the scenes of the BBC series Sherlock is informative, if not intimate
Reviewed by Rosalind Faires, Dec. 23, 2015
Mycroft Holmes
This adventure of the Great Detective's brother as a young man is a fine addition to the canon
Reviewed by Molly Odnitz, Dec. 23, 2015
The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
A stupendous survey of Sherlockian parodies and pastiches from 1890 to the present
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Dec. 23, 2015
Doctuh Mistuh's Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical
This send-up of the 1978 blue movie serves up the cheese and camp for a load of giddy fun
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Dec. 23, 2015
"Alex Diamond: Wette" at Not Gallery
An unlikely combination of violence, action, and watercolor stand out in this solo show
Reviewed by Seth Orion Schwaiger, Dec. 23, 2015
The Rude Mechs' Now Now Oh Now
Version 3.0 of this look at role-playing games tests how deeply we engage in our quests for beauty and truth
Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbe, Dec. 17, 2015
Teatro Vivo's La Pastorela
This new take on the old Christmas tale has the shepherds' rough edges but a heart of gold
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Dec. 17, 2015
Kissing in America
Rabb's second YA novel features more than one love story, and they're all worth telling
Reviewed by Kimberley Jones, Dec. 10, 2015
Hill Country Property
Passion, compromise, and human frailty figure large in this touching and funny Texas novel
Reviewed by Joe O'Connell, Dec. 10, 2015
Bats of the Republic
An arcane tapestry of alternate cowboy history and steampunk sci-fi in a multitextured graphic package
Reviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner, Dec. 10, 2015
Gwendolyn's Sword
A well-researched and swiftly paced historical novel for grown-up girls who dreamed of being knights
Reviewed by Rosalind Faires, Dec. 10, 2015
Rules for Werewolves
This tale of runaways prowling suburbia in a pack recalls the eerie unreality of The Twilight Zone
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Dec. 10, 2015
Austin Playhouse's The Philadelphia Story
Don Toner's direction and a top-drawer cast make for a riotous evening in this version of Philip Barry's crisp comedy
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Dec. 10, 2015
Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company's True Story
In Kathy Dunn Hamrick's new dance, communities, like truths, were fluid and the movement was incomparable
Reviewed by Jonelle Seitz, Dec. 10, 2015
UT Theatre & Dance's The Wild Party
In this Michael John LaChiusa & George C. Wolfe musical, gin, sin, and skin collide in a debaucherous 1920s requiem to the ego
Reviewed by Stephanie Carll, Dec. 3, 2015
Different Stages' Dracula
Despite atmospheric design work and some strong acting, the production never quite realizes the sensuality and lyrical ferocity in Steven Dietz's script
Reviewed by Shanon Weaver, Dec. 3, 2015
The Wind in the Reeds
Treme actor Wendell Pierce finds Godot and gratitude in post-Katrina New Orleans
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Nov. 25, 2015
The History of King Lear
A long-reviled revision of Shakespeare's tragedy proves fascinating as revived by the Hidden Room Theatre
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Nov. 25, 2015
Austin Shakespeare's A Streetcar Named Desire
This thoughtful take on Tennessee Williams' classic subtly pits the Old South against the New North
