Brooklyn Paper, by Meredith Deliso
May the verse be with you as 'Star Wars' - themed epic hits the stage
“It’s an amalgamation of a lot of pop culture franchises and ideas — ‘Star Wars’ and spaghetti Westerns, as well as Faustian and Christian mythology,” said Timothy Martin Bungeroth, the Park Slope-based playwright.
“There are a lot of direct parallels, but this isn’t ‘Empire Strikes Back,’ ” said Bungeroth. “This is the culmination of our company mission — new works of verse in modern vernacular, and also magnificent sword battles.”
“It’s an amalgamation of a lot of pop culture franchises and ideas — ‘Star Wars’ and spaghetti Westerns, as well as Faustian and Christian mythology,” said Timothy Martin Bungeroth, the Park Slope-based playwright.
“There are a lot of direct parallels, but this isn’t ‘Empire Strikes Back,’ ” said Bungeroth. “This is the culmination of our company mission — new works of verse in modern vernacular, and also magnificent sword battles.”
All Media NY, by Drew Kolar
It’s Raining [Magic] Men in Williamsburg
"Sometimes, you come across the perfect group of actors with incredible chemistry. Generally, these theatre companies are ignored when compared to Broadway and off-Broadway productions, but they really shouldn’t be—sometimes their productions, however minimal, are actually far more entertaining than shows you’d spend hundreds of dollars on. Take, for example, A Festival of Fools’ rendition of up-and-coming writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Rough Magic."
"Generally an Elizabethan verse-inspired company, A Festival of Fools switches it up from their usual repertoire for this production to perform possibly one of the most versatile plays yet. It could easily translate from stage to film or, more likely, to comic books, which is obvious due to Aguirre-Sacasa’s more well-known work in the comic world on titles like Marvel Knights 4, Sensational Spiderman and the recent adaptation of Steven King’s The Stand, as well as a writing stint for HBO’s Big Love."
"Sometimes, you come across the perfect group of actors with incredible chemistry. Generally, these theatre companies are ignored when compared to Broadway and off-Broadway productions, but they really shouldn’t be—sometimes their productions, however minimal, are actually far more entertaining than shows you’d spend hundreds of dollars on. Take, for example, A Festival of Fools’ rendition of up-and-coming writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Rough Magic."
"Generally an Elizabethan verse-inspired company, A Festival of Fools switches it up from their usual repertoire for this production to perform possibly one of the most versatile plays yet. It could easily translate from stage to film or, more likely, to comic books, which is obvious due to Aguirre-Sacasa’s more well-known work in the comic world on titles like Marvel Knights 4, Sensational Spiderman and the recent adaptation of Steven King’s The Stand, as well as a writing stint for HBO’s Big Love."
NY Post, by Meredith Deliso
A 'Tempest" with a superhero twist
"With the help of some projection magic of their own, A Festival of Fools will tell the fantastical story of Melanie, a dramaturg who has the supernatural ability to bring fictional characters to life. As a result, she meets up with Caliban, who is on the run in New York from Prospero’s island. But when the tyrannical magician begins to wreak havoc on the city, it’s up to Melanie to defeat him — but not without the help of her young love interest, a high school lifeguard toiling the sands of Coney Island, and the Furies from the Oresteia — here reinvented as Lower East Side drag queens."
"It all makes for great, melodramatic fun, with a few comic book-esque action scenes thrown in among all the heightened text. 'This one’s going to be fun,' said Kane-Hartnett. 'We will have drag queens, and they will be fabulous.'"
"With the help of some projection magic of their own, A Festival of Fools will tell the fantastical story of Melanie, a dramaturg who has the supernatural ability to bring fictional characters to life. As a result, she meets up with Caliban, who is on the run in New York from Prospero’s island. But when the tyrannical magician begins to wreak havoc on the city, it’s up to Melanie to defeat him — but not without the help of her young love interest, a high school lifeguard toiling the sands of Coney Island, and the Furies from the Oresteia — here reinvented as Lower East Side drag queens."
"It all makes for great, melodramatic fun, with a few comic book-esque action scenes thrown in among all the heightened text. 'This one’s going to be fun,' said Kane-Hartnett. 'We will have drag queens, and they will be fabulous.'"
Dumbo Books of Brooklyn blog, by Richard Grayson, 8/15/2010
Saturday Afternoon in the Park: A Festival of Fools presents Calderon's "Life is a Dream" at the Music Pagoda
"On the page, we always found the plot confusing and pretty unbelievable although we took it as a metaphor, a philosophical argument disguised as a weird story. It's to the enormous credit of A Festival of Fools and this production's director, Amanda Thompson - and also in large part to the incredibly deft new translation (with gorgeous meter and natural rhyme) by LIU-Brooklyn professor G.J. Racz - that you don't think, 'This makes no sense' as you watch the play."
"John Guare called Life is a Dream his favorite exploration of 'the quintessential theme -- the human mind coming to consciousness" whose lesson is that "poetry is a visceral response to events, not some aerosol spray-on fantasy of fancy chat.' With this production, A Festival of Fools manages to present Calderón's philosophical drama in a manner that highlights its magnificence as well as its entertainment value. La vida es sueño, de seguro."
"On the page, we always found the plot confusing and pretty unbelievable although we took it as a metaphor, a philosophical argument disguised as a weird story. It's to the enormous credit of A Festival of Fools and this production's director, Amanda Thompson - and also in large part to the incredibly deft new translation (with gorgeous meter and natural rhyme) by LIU-Brooklyn professor G.J. Racz - that you don't think, 'This makes no sense' as you watch the play."
"John Guare called Life is a Dream his favorite exploration of 'the quintessential theme -- the human mind coming to consciousness" whose lesson is that "poetry is a visceral response to events, not some aerosol spray-on fantasy of fancy chat.' With this production, A Festival of Fools manages to present Calderón's philosophical drama in a manner that highlights its magnificence as well as its entertainment value. La vida es sueño, de seguro."
The Brooklyn Paper, by Meredith Deliso, 8/10/2010
Shakespeare in the Park? Feh — we got Calderon’s ‘Dream’ play
"This 400-year-old play isn’t quite so modern, but Bungeroth couldn’t resist putting on one of his favorites in the outdoor space this summer. The “Inception” of the 17th century, “Life is a Dream” explores the conflict between dreams and reality through the story of Segismund, a prince of Poland who is imprisoned after living up to a prophecy that predicted that he would rule with tyranny. After being banished a second time, he has trouble determining what’s real and what’s the stuff of dreams."
"'The most exciting thing about this production has been learning the Spanish rapier style, which is very derivative of bull fighting,' said Bungeroth, who plays Segismund. 'It’s very easy for me to imagine myself as a bull in a ring.'"
"This 400-year-old play isn’t quite so modern, but Bungeroth couldn’t resist putting on one of his favorites in the outdoor space this summer. The “Inception” of the 17th century, “Life is a Dream” explores the conflict between dreams and reality through the story of Segismund, a prince of Poland who is imprisoned after living up to a prophecy that predicted that he would rule with tyranny. After being banished a second time, he has trouble determining what’s real and what’s the stuff of dreams."
"'The most exciting thing about this production has been learning the Spanish rapier style, which is very derivative of bull fighting,' said Bungeroth, who plays Segismund. 'It’s very easy for me to imagine myself as a bull in a ring.'"
