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Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Ricardo Soltero-Brown:
    8 Dec. 2023
    One need not be familiar with the work of Mel Gordon to enjoy this commedia dell'arte, yet scholars and general audiences alike will relish in this lazzi spettacolare with the same stupefying awe as one does when discovering the works of Dario Fo, Antonio Fava, even Jacques Lecoq. Francesco Andreini and Flavio Scala may be lost to the ages, but Ian Thal has resurrected Il Capitano to resplendent heights in this marvel of theatre that decides to leap bounds over Plautus and Terence with Spavento's braggadocio, incorporating characters as gargantuan and mythical as his narrative, highly suspect, tales of bravado.
  • Stephen Kaplan:
    25 Mar. 2023
    Nothing beats a good story and this play has DOZENS of them! While there may not be 1,001 of them, Thal's play will leave you spellbound and feeling like a little kid during story time as you spend time with the larger-than-life Capitano and those he encounters (or says he encounters).
  • Cheryl Bear:
    22 Oct. 2021
    An adventure for the ages as we finally hear the true story from Captiano himself! Well done.
  • Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos:
    16 Jun. 2019
    You can't anticipate what you might get into with one of Thal's plays, but it will be unlike anything you've known before. A master wordsmith, his full length monologue is a tale of fantastic tales piled one on top of the other and delivered by the pompous, larger-than-life Capitano, a character so ridiculous, so very full of himself, it's a wonder we can like him at all. But like him we do in spite of his Trumpian qualities. I would enjoy seeing this play in a dinner theatre. Godspeed to the actor cast as Capitano!
  • Asher Wyndham:
    1 Feb. 2019
    Most storytelling solo shows are boring -- no action, just narration, no reason for telling the story. Thal, a player of masks and scholar of commedia dell'arte, knows how to imbue a solo with his dynamic character, playing space through physicality and polyphony. Capitano appeals to us, even when he repels us through chauvinism and bigotry, because the theatre that he creates through imagination and speech-acts is analogous to our political theatre starring Trump and Co. Capitano showcases what we see in our culture and enemies: narcissism that's almost psychotic. Produce/perform this! Bravo!