 |
| Pamela Fields Photo by Bill Phillips |
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)
Click here for more information on this production that runs through November 21
"...Kirt Shineman's drama The Mysterious Disappearance...a tightly directed and well-cast world premiere production featuring a superb performance by Pamela Fields as (Agatha) Christie. The play is set in December 1975, just a month before Christie's death. With her autobiography due on January 1, the 83-year-old is reviewing the events in her past...However, Christie struggles sometimes to find the words she wants to say and forgets or confuses details of events in her past. She also finds herself having conversations with people who aren't really there. With a rash of nursing home suicides in the news, Agatha ponders what it would be like to actually commit a murder...But can the best-selling fiction writer of all time actually go through with it? That's the premise Shineman has crafted, but it's the payoff that elevates this drama into one that's incredibly memorable, and the payoff has nothing to do with murder or mystery but instead focuses on the impact of aging and memory loss...Director Janis Webb does a wonderful job navigating through Shineman's richly layered script to ensure it flows smoothly and that her cast all deliver rich portrayals....Pamela Fields is delivering an exceptional...realistic and moving performance. Anyone who has had a family member who dealt with memory loss will know that Fields' portrayal is truthful....a tightly woven mystery well worth untangling. Kirt Shineman has created a truly excellent play that weaves together facts about Agatha Christie's life and career into a poignant study of the impact of aging." -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
"Did the "Queen of Crime" plan an actual murder? ... It is as well an intriguing enough question to invite the curious playgoer to see just what Kirt Shineman has cooked up in his new play, THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE, premiering at Theatre Artists Studio. Shineman, an accomplished playwright with a flair for suspense and intrigue, has done his homework....to craft a story line inspired by the author's eleven-day vanishing act in August of 1926....the mystery appears more a cover story beneath which Shineman has cleverly devised a piercing and ultimately poignant portrayal of dementia....Thanks to Janis Webb's careful direction, the multi-layered performances of Pamela Fields as Agatha and Katibelle Collins as Mary, and Shineman's crisp writing, THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE is a mind-bending and heart-gripping play....At the center of it all is Fields's poised and stately portrayal of Agatha Christie, consummated by a final exhortation that, even as one succumbs to the twilight of dementia, there remains a light at the end of the tunnel. Seize the moment!" - Herbert Paine, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)
No comments:
Post a Comment
In order to avoid spam, comments will be moderated. Anonymous comments no longer will be allowed. If your comment is from an actual person it will be approved and posted in a timely manner.