Review: Samuel Beckett’s "Endgame"

catastrophic — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:29:38 +0000

Thu, 03/01/2012

Catastrophic’s production of the very funny and terribly unhappy “Endgame” is another masterpiece in the company’s ever-mounting stack of successes.

Catastrophic’s ENDGAME is Ingenious Masterwork

catastrophic — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:14:45 +0000

Catastrophic’s ENDGAME is Ingenious Masterwork

Buzz Bellmont

Chron Commons

Fri, 02/24/2012

Original Article

No one in Houston creates this multilayered, nonlinear type of theatre better than The Catastrophic Theatre.

I think it helps that Catastrophic’s Artistic Director Jason Nodler, who directs here, is a goddamn genius by every definition of the word.Only a genius can take the complexly simple Endgame and make it sing, dance, and soar to new heights, exploding into so many pieces simultaneously, satisfactorily, and splendidly that we marvel at its many magnificent manifestations.

Your weekly guide to Houston: Cinderella as a modern woman, J.J. Watt as a cowboy & bees as friends

catastrophic — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:46:05 +0000

Your weekly guide to Houston: Cinderella as a modern woman, J.J. Watt as a cowboy & bees as friends

Joel Luks

culturemap

Fri, 02/24/2012

Original Article

Nancy says: "'You're on earth, there's no cure for that,' Hamm says to to Clov. Beckett is back thanks to those wonky word geeks over at Catastrophic Theatre with their uber tight production of Endgame, starring Greg Dean as Hamm, Troy Schulze as Clov, Joel Orr as Nagg and Mikelle Johnson as Nell. Directed by Jason Nodler, Endgame's title says it all. If you love language, wordplay, divine banter and humor with a falling off a cliff edge, this is a play for you.

Castastrophic’s Endgame: Does Beckett get any better?

catastrophic — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:59:46 +0000

Castastrophic’s Endgame: Does Beckett get any better?

Everett Evans

Houston Chronicle

Mon, 02/20/2012

Original Article

Catastrophic Theatre’s stark, unflinching production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame demonstrates exactly why this company and its artistic director Jason Nodler are so important to the city’s cultural life.

The Magnificent Endgame Gets Magnificent Treatment from Catastrophic Theatre

catastrophic — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:10:19 +0000

The Magnificent Endgame Gets Magnificent Treatment from Catastrophic Theatre

D.L. Groover

Houston Press

Mon, 02/20/2012

Original Article

If man's wretched existence ever needed a finer hand to paint comic despair, look no further than director Jason Nodler with his quartet of superlative interpreters all in the service of the apocalyptic vision from Samuel Beckett.

MasterMinds One Year Later: Catastrophic Theatre's Jason Nodler on Batman and Samuel Beckett

catastrophic — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:34:07 +0000

MasterMinds One Year Later: Catastrophic Theatre's Jason Nodler on Batman and Samuel Beckett

Brittanie Shey

Houston Press

Mon, 12/19/2011

Original Article

In the year since Catastrophic Theatre was named a MasterMind, the experimental theater company has added an additional production to its schedule, discovered a whole new audience, and artistic director Jason Nodler has even stopped smoking.

Anna Bella Eema from Catastrophic Theatre: A Startling Piece of Theater

kirk — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:19:41 +0000

Anna Bella Eema from Catastrophic Theatre: A Startling Piece of Theater

D.L. Groover

Houston Press

Wed, 12/07/2011

Original Article

Catastrophic Theatre delivers the goods and creates a miniature pendant that gleams with tantalizing brilliance.

Catastrophic Theatre keeps it wonderful and weird with 'Anna Bella Eema'

kirk — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:11:19 +0000

Catastrophic Theatre keeps it wonderful and weird with 'Anna Bella Eema'

Everett Evans

Houston Chronicle

Tue, 12/06/2011

Original Article

Described as "a ghost story for three bodies with three voices," Anna Bella Eema blurs the line between the real and the imaginary. The format is stark and simple. Three women sit in chairs and speak their stories, sometimes alternating monologues, sometimes as dialogue. They punctuate the action using the many props on the folding TV tables set out before each one. Periodically, they sing a capella incantations, laments, primal cries - nothing like conventional song.

Within a harsh Samuel Beckett universe, D'Amour deftly mines the magic realism vein. Tales of wise talking foxes and such lend a Little Prince vibe. The line "I was visited by a werewolf once" is presented as matter-of-factly as "I was visited by a social worker once." D'Amour has a way with the psychologically telling line, as when Anna Bella expresses anger with her mom: "Even though I'm only 10, she fills me with the rage of a powerless middle-aged man."

Catastrophic Theatre’s ANNA BELLA EEMA earns Buzz’ Three B Rating: Brilliant Playwrighting, Direction, Performances

kirk — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:02:00 +0000

Catastrophic Theatre’s ANNA BELLA EEMA earns Buzz’ Three B Rating: Brilliant Playwrighting, Direction, Performances

Buzz Bellmont

Chron Commons

Mon, 12/05/2011

Original Article

I guarantee that Catastrophic's Anna Bella Eema well may be the most insanely intense, ingenious, illustrious, illuminating, enlightening ninety-minute theatre experience you will ever have!

The Catastrophic Theatre: There Is a Happiness That Morning Is

kirk — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:38:42 +0000

The Catastrophic Theatre: There Is a Happiness That Morning Is

Kerri Foley

The LoopScoop

Mon, 10/10/2011

Original Article

Mickle Maher’s play is as masterful as they come, a simple story told in a genius style. While the majority of dialogue is delivered in rhymed verse, the script manages to avoid the old-fashioned bouncing rhymes that often invade a metered method. The lines of There Is a Happiness That Morning Is do not bounce. They ooze sophistication, wind complicated puns and set up stunning contrast for an occasional burst of modern profanity. Maher isn’t a rhyming poet, but a matchmaker who allows words to meet, woo, and sing harmony.