Joe Wilson

Latest Articles

Trinity’s delicately balanced Merchant of Venice

The light and the dark
The Merchant of Venice gives modern audiences a lot to think and talk about — including, we can forget, a surprising amount of comedy. But the main concern is it being such a head-shaking case study of the era's anti-Semitism.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 15, 2012

Freaks, Geeks, and Faux Bono

Boston-area subcultures keep the Bay State comfortably kooky this summer
As Bay Staters, we recognize that our European ancestors sure knew how to roll: scarlet letters, sticks up asses, if-she-drowns-she's-not-a-witch-if-she-floats-she's-a-witch-so-let's-kill-her legal applications.
By ALEXIS HAUK | June 20, 2010

Four to watch for

From Cannes to the multiplex
These Cannes-debuting films will soon be appearing in your local neighborhood googleplex.
By LISA NESSELSON | May 26, 2010

Play by Play: March 5, 2010

Theater listings, March 5, 2010
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 03, 2010

Play by play, February 26, 2010

Theater listings, week of February 26, 2010
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 24, 2010

Play by play: February 19, 2010

Theatre listings, week of February 19, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 17, 2010

Play by play: February 12, 2010

Theater listings, February 12, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 09, 2010

Present laughter

Trinity throws a Twelfth Night party
Director Brian McEleney returns to Trinity Repertory Company for a raucous Twelfth Night that hums with energy, drollery, and a makeshift score that meshes Shakespearean ditty with such seasonal fripperies as "Auld Lang Syne" and the Mariah Carey hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
By CAROLYN CLAY | February 10, 2010

Play by play: February 5, 2010

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 03, 2010

Play by Play: January 29, 2010

Theater listings, January 29, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | January 27, 2010

Play by play: December 25, 2009

Theater listings, December 25, 2009
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | December 23, 2009

Play by play: December 18, 2009

Theater listings, week of December 18
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | December 16, 2009

Christmas present

Trinity Rep’s Carol delivers the gift of joy
Christmases come and Christmases go, as psychedelic wrapping paper gives way to orderly Republican stripes, as sweet little Jimmy grows into gruff Uncle James.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 02, 2009

Play by play: November 20, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater listings
By JEFFREY GANTZ | November 18, 2009

Play by play: October 9, 2009

Theater listings
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | October 07, 2009

Lie of the land

Lying liars, and the end of accountability
In his new film, The Invention of Lying , Ricky Gervais plays Mark Bellison, a pudgy everyman who lives in Anytown in a utopian world where lies don't exist — until he tells one.
By MIKE MILIARD | October 07, 2009

Play by Play: October 2, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 30, 2009

The Bigmouth strikes again

Kanye acts like himself; nation loses shit
Given all the conflicting emotions, it was tough to form an opinion on Kanye West's VMA bum rush against Taylor Swift.
By DAVID THORPE | September 22, 2009

Play by Play: September 25, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 22, 2009

Cheesy and crackers

Too much southern exposure. Plus, a rant — unpamper those kids!
There is no place hotter in the media lately than South Carolina, "The Cracker State," whose logo is still essentially the Confederate flag.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | September 16, 2009

Both new and old classics

Life on the boards
The Gamm certainly has come a long way in the quarter-century leading up to this its 25th anniversary season. The evolution of its name alone is quite a trip.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 16, 2009

Berlin calling

A ‘very Trinity’ take on Cabaret
If you ask someone whether they've seen Cabaret , odds are the answer will be yes. Ask Curt Columbus, and the answer is likely to be: Which one? Sitting in the upstairs theater of Trinity Repertory Company, where their production runs through October 11, the artistic director rattled off a chronology as lengthy as a convoluted German sentence.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 15, 2009

Play by play: September 18, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 17, 2009

Play by play: September 11, 2009

Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 09, 2009

Play by play: September 4, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater guide
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 02, 2009

Lady of the Sea

If all you know of the Aran Islands is the plays of Martin McDonagh, you probably think their populace is an untamed and violent lot.
If all you know of the Aran Islands is the plays of Martin McDonagh, you probably think their populace is an untamed and violent lot.
By CAROLYN CLAY | May 13, 2009

Odd couples

The Lyric's Grey Gardens; Trinity's Shapeshifter
The East Hampton Board of Health would doubtless approve Grey Gardens: The Musical , since it comes minus the crapping cats, feral raccoons, and piles of garbage that form the supporting cast and unsanitary milieu of the famed documentary on which it's based.
By CAROLYN CLAY | May 12, 2009

Play by Play: February 27, 2009

Plays A to Z
A compilation of theater productions in and around Boston
By CAROLYN CLAY | February 24, 2009

Play by play: February 20, 2009

Plays A to Z
A compilation of theater productions in and around Boston
By CAROLYN CLAY | February 17, 2009

Black power

Trinity Rep's powerful Raisin In the Sun
The centerpiece of George C. Wolfe's 1986 satire The Colored Museum is a scathing sketch called The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play . A Raisin in the Sun is the über-mama-on-the-couch play
By CAROLYN CLAY | February 12, 2009