Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Our shows
Beginning 2012 with a look back at 2011's best
posted by Kyle Sircus on Wed, Jan 4, 2012
in News , Our shows
Happy New Year, blog readers! January offers all of us a time to commit to resolutions and reflect back on the year that was. In our case at Berkeley Rep, it was certainly a busy one filled with a whole slate of shows, some of which were lucky enough to receive some "best of 2011" nods from theatre critics around the country. In case you missed it, here's a rundown:
- The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Mike Daisey's controversial new monologue, appeared on critics' lists in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal for its New York and Washington, D.C. runs, respectively. The production made lists in both the Seattle Times and Seattle Weekly, too. Closer to home, Bay Area News Group, Huffington Post, and the SF Bay Guardian all named it as one of their top picks for the year.
- Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy earned the engaging performer the Barrymore Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. This knockout performance landed in the Top 10 lists in the San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Area News Group, and Los Angeles Times.
- In addition to his Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance, John Leguizamo's Ghetto Klown was awarded the Biggest Laugh of 2011 by Eric Grode in the New York Times.
- Our co-production of Ruined made lists in the San Francisco Chronicle, Idiolect, and the Boston Globe.
- Les Waters' staging of Three Sisters made Karen D'Souza's Top 10 list in the Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, and Contra Costa Times.
- Speaking of Les, Charles Isherwood of the New York Times recently wrote about the year’s “most promising out of town development: The appointment of the director Les Waters to head Actors Theater of Louisville, which hosts the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.” After eight years as Berkeley Rep’s associate artistic director, Les will be dearly missed in the Bay Area – but everyone wishes him well with his new adventure!
To close out this post, we are so excited that our current production of The Wild Bride was named the "high point of the year" in Robert Hurwitt's San Francisco Chronicle list. The show's been extended until January 22. If you haven't seen it yet, why not add that to your list of resolutions?
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"The Wild Bride" on paper
posted by Mary Kay Hickox on Tue, Jan 3, 2012
in Our shows
By Mary Kay Hickox, graphic design fellow
Most people might not know that all of the artwork we produce is made in-house by our art director, Cheshire Isaacs, and his graphic design fellow (me!).
Creating new artwork for shows that have their premieres at Berkeley Rep is often a difficult task because we don't have much to go on except the script and interviews with the directors/playwrights. Unlike some other shows, the Wild Bride didn't have a script that we were able to read beforehand. We only had the original Grimm's fairy tale (The Handless Maiden), production photos from Kneehigh, the video, and a performance program.
What we knew that we didn't want was it to look too much like Tim Burton's style or Into the Woods (the musical). Since we knew that blues music plays a big role in this production, we wanted to emphasize that in the logo by choosing an Americana/hand-drawn style typeface.
Here are some very early sketches of what we had in mind. When creating artwork, we need to think about the different formats it will be in -- newspapers with poor printing quality, black and white or color, advertisements that are very horizontal, vertical, small, large, web, print! Having these constraints is good sometimes, as it gives us a better idea of what we should be focusing our time on rather than going in one direction when in reality it's not a good choice.
While we could make these sketches work, they looked very dark and a little spooky (it didn't help we were creating these around Halloween). We decided to change direction, focusing directly on the logotype, instead of an image to go with the title.
This is the first sketch of this version of the logo, hand-drawn by Cheshire, next to the finalized logo. We both liked this direction, as it captured the bluesy/Americana feel, while still keeping it wild. Luckily, everyone else liked this direction too and we went on with cleaning it up and working on each of the letters. The devil "the" was actually a happy mistake.
After we had what we liked, we scanned in the logo into Photoshop, cleaned it up, and placed it on top of one of the production photos from Kneehigh. After the logo was finalized, we created multiple versions of it to fit into different settings. Though we computer-generate almost all our artwork, it was really great to work off the computer and draw with pen and paper! We hope you enjoyed this view into graphic design at Berkeley Rep.
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"The Wild Bride" turns 100!
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Dec 21, 2011
in Our shows
Happy 100th performance to The Wild Bride!
Yep, last Saturday marked the first triple-digit performance of this smash hit show. OK, technically that counts the performances in the UK too, but hey, at least Kneehigh's awesome artists get to celebrate with us!
Stage manager Steph Curtis sent along this 100th performance photo. Note the white flags in the tree.
And, in case you haven't heard, The Wild Bride has been extended to January 22! Yep, it's officially one of the hottest -- if not the hottest -- theatrical events of the season. Come on down! Audiences are totally loving this spectacular show.
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Teen Council is wild about "The Wild Bride!"
posted by School of Theatre on Tue, Dec 13, 2011
in Our shows , School of Theatre , Teen Council
By Darcy Davis, Acalanes High School, Teen Council Membership chair
Teen Night attendees enjoy Phil's Sliders before the show! Thanks to Phil's Sliders for the delicious food!
Finally. It was here. The Wild Bride. The ad campaign alone had Teen Council clamoring for tickets, and after months of images of colorful dancers whirling through stage lights, Teen Night had come.
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Critics love "The Wild Bride!"
posted by Karen McKevitt on Fri, Dec 9, 2011
in News , Our shows
The reviews are in and critics love The Wild Bride! It even got a "wild applause" from the Little Man. What can we say? Kneehigh totally rocks!
Here's what the critics are saying:
“The Devil is at the crossroads, a girl is in peril and love is gloriously indestructible in the exhilarating The Wild Bride… A feast of timeless story, irresistible music and wildly imaginative theatricality… Bride is a gift that keeps on giving.” – SF Chronicle
“The Wild Bride will steal your heart from start to finish… An ingenious marriage of dance, theater, puppetry and music… Once upon a time has rarely been so intoxicating.” – Bay Area News Group
“Devilishly entertaining … Anyone who believes in magic should see it!” – SF Examiner
“Without question, the great treat of the holiday theater season!” – Chad Jones’ Theatre Dogs (Love the caption, Chad!)
So, tickets are already going fast, so don't wait, reserve your seats now before shows sell out!
Patrycja Kujawska and Stuart Goodwin. Photo by kevinberne.com
We'll see ya real soon!
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"The Wild Bride" opens tonight
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Dec 7, 2011
in Our shows
The Berkeley Rep staff is all giddy with anticipation about tonight’s official opening night of Kneehigh’s The Wild Bride -- seriously, it’s like we all have major crushes on these talented artists from Cornwall. The show’s been in previews all weekend and earning some awesome word of mouth, and sales are picking up fast. (By the way, y’all know to reserve your seats early to get the best ones at the best prices, right?)
Here’s a fabulous extra:
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Get your fashion on: British edition
posted by Amy Bobeda on Mon, Dec 5, 2011
in Costume shop , Our shows
Today marks the one week-iversary of the British Invasion at Berkeley Rep. After only six days spent with our friends from across the pond, I have begun to understand Paul Revere’s panic. Why, you might ask? Because we were vastly unprepared for their impeccable, edgy sense of fashion, and of course their ridiculously confusing costume vocabulary.
So, today, let’s play catch-up and learn to dress for the queen.
To dress like a character of The Wild Bride, one will require:
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Meet "The Wild Bride"
posted by Karen McKevitt on Fri, Dec 2, 2011
in Our shows
Earlier this week, Kneehigh Theatre -- the same group of insanely creative artists responsible for the Broadway hit Brief Encounter -- touched down in the Bay Area with The Wild Bride in tow. We're pretty stoked to have them here at Berkeley Rep, and to present the American premiere of the show that's earned raves across England. The first performance is tonight, and the show officially opens next Wednesday!
Learn a little more about the show and its creator Emma Rice in the interview published in the SF Chronicle yesterday. And if you haven't seen the video trailer yet, check it out. Right now tickets start at $29, but prices are based on availability, so your best bet is to buy early. Hope to see you at the Theatre!
Éva Magyar in The Wild Bride. Photo by Steve Tanner.
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Happiness is...
posted by Kyle Sircus on Wed, Nov 30, 2011
in At the theatre , General theatre talk , Our shows
We've been vindicated! What we who work in the theatre have always known to be true is finally being supported with actual evidence. A new study from the UK charts, via smart phone responses, when people are at their happiest. No surprise to Berkeley Rep fans: theatre comes in third place (only after sex and exercising).
When are you at your happiest?
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Rita on the big screen
posted by Karen McKevitt on Wed, Nov 2, 2011
in Our shows
You've seen Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup (wait, you haven't? then click here), now see her on the big screen! It's the 50th anniversary of West Side Story, and to celebrate, TCM presents the Academy Award-winning musical film in theatres around the country on November 9. See a list of participating Bay Area movie theatres, then enjoy Rita's Oscar-winning performance!