PRESS
‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ Reviews: A Feast of Yuletide Plays
By Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
Most of the “Christmas Carols” I’ve seen in past years, however, have been not one-man shows but pageant-like productions with fairly good-sized casts. Needless to say, Covid has made such versions impossible in 2020, but Houston’s Alley Theatre has mounted a Zoom-based version adapted by Doris Baizley and very well directed by Brandon Weinbrenner in which 10 members of the Alley’s resident acting company, all performing from their individual living rooms, divvy up the parts, with David Rainey giving a splendidly pungent, even salty performance as Scrooge. The use of Zoom in this “staging” is more than a mere stopgap: It makes for a winningly homey, family-friendly air.
Alley Theatre’s ‘The Humans’ a masterpiece of anxiety
By Wei-Huan Chen, Houston Chronicle
“Brandon Weinbrenner has directed one of the most sophisticated pieces of theater I’ve seen from the Alley Theatre. His hand here is painterly, one that isn’t afraid to have two, three or four pieces of action occur simultaneously. Like a painting, “The Humans” does not tell you where to look.You might just surprise yourself with what you notice elsewhere on stage — an open door, a flickering light, an old woman sleeping on the couch.”
“But it wasn’t until the final scene when I realized that the Alley Theatre has produced a show of true artistic vision, one that isn’t afraid to manifest psychological horror by using the physical space of its stage. By presenting an image of such terror and isolation in a play about universal American existence, the Alley turned “The Humans” into an indictment of the way we live and a prediction on the way we’ll end up.”
The Surreal Rings Loud in Dead Man’s Cell Phone
By Jessica Goldman, Houston Press
“It’s a fantastical perfume of a show (directed by Brandon Weinbrenner) whose middle and base notes dry down to something far less tech-obsessed, revealing the distinctly human desires of memory and belonging.”
“Wisely, its director Weinbrenner at the helm, no stranger to making comedy with a tinge of the serious work for the company. In his efforts with Stephen Karam’s, The Humans, in the 2019 season, Weinbrenner tap-danced dread and disillusion into the show’s comedy ballroom. Here he sweetly marries old school yuks with Ruhl’s more surreal type of humor to keep things universally palatable.”
