Saturday, July 08, 2006

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die

Last Rites Productions
July 7, 2006; closes July 29, 2006

Plot thickens as newish company ups game of re-inventing B-movies for stage (see “Manos”). True replica? Dunno; more importantly, spoof seemed comfortable being itself. Tone here just right, speared by Todd Austin Sabel, estimably adding depth to parody. Pacing/energy flatlined toward middle, then revived; stronger conclusion might’ve been more fulfilling.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was a riot.

Anonymous said...

LOVED the show. Have these folks met The Third Floor/Gun Happy kids? I think they did a show with similar plot elements a view years back at Miracle. It too was very very fun.

I think if these two companies got together, they might just double their audiences.

Anonymous said...

why did the willamete week post their review online only? It's a good reveiw,and I'm getting so upset at the paper's new policy of only printing reviews about the bigger shows in Portland. "Manos" and "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" are both excellent examples of smaller, newer companies doing great work! How is being elitist about which shows to pay attention to and which to ignore fostering a nurturing evironment for art?

Anonymous said...

Willamette Week's coverage of local theater in general sadly continues to wane.

Hey Ben! What can we do to get you more ink?

Anonymous said...

What happened to Joanna Droubay? I enjoy her reviews.

Anonymous said...

Instead of Joanna?

Anonymous said...

He wasn't talking about you, Ben, you big sexy egotist you. He was talking about Ben Westerhouse, beleaguered Willamette Week writer.

Anonymous said...

So, you chimed in because you're a big sexy egotist?

Anonymous said...

I was as surprised as anyone that the "Brain" review went online. Unfortunately, we have to choose between listing all of the shows that are playing and running box reviews, mostly because the paper ranks music and movies as higher priorities than performance art. We respond to what our readers want, so I suspect the only way to get greater theater coverage is to write the editors and let them know you want it.

Johanna's been on sabbatical after editing Finder (which comes out Wednesday--don't miss it). She'll be back.

I know I've said this before, but I absolutely love LastRites' style. Keep it up, guys.