we will destroy you...

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Houston Chronicle reviews

New Gatherer blends outrageous fun, reality

Through two couples' frank dialogue and ever-more-outrageous action, the play strips away the veneer of civilized behavior to reveal the beasts within ... Nodler balances the more "real" aspects with the outlandish ones ... Bringing deeper feeling to the quieter moments, he has increased a feeling that the characters and relationships are rooted in reality ... Though Hunter Gatherers may lose some of that "element of surprise" on a second encounter, it's still nervy and funny.


June 30, 2010

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Mourner takes on the fall of culture

Quietly stunning ... Nodler and his Catastrophic team have done it again. They've taken a uniquely challenging, unsettling and multilayered piece of theatrical writing, put their stamp on it and brought it to life with intimacy, immediacy and a sense of urgency. ... each of these fine actors has never been better. .... The Designated Mourner is a must. 


May 18, 2010

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Decadence reigns in disturbing Late Night

Judging Catastrophic Theatre's Our Late Night by how well the production realizes the play's intent, you'd have to rate it an undisputed bull's-eye ... Nodler has staged it with finesse, giving the play precisely the seemingly contradictory impact that it requires — that of being subtly shocking. He makes each exchange or monologue register as a contained, pointed vignette ... The Catastrophic family of players is at its best.


March 24, 2010

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Happy and Sad serves up a slice of life

Brownlie, the former frontman for Bring Back the Guns and making his acting debut, proves ideal as the young Johnston. The neediness and sensitivity, bouts of wild enthusiasm, panics of self-doubt — all spring naturally from his portrayal. It's a case of being, rather than acting the role.

 


December 9, 2009

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Tamarie Cooper applies scientific spin to musical

Cooper's annual summer musical has become something of an institution on Houston's theater scene. Her current Journey ranks with the best of the original Tamalalia series produced for 10 years by the defunct Infernal Bridegroom Productions. It starts in high gear with the insanely enthusiastic opening number and seldom lets up for its tight 90-minute running time...Like all of Cooper's shows, Journey is the theatrical equivalent of a handmade gift, as opposed to a store-bought, mass-produced item. Stamped with Cooper's winning personality and sense of humor, the show has all over it the loving fingerprints of everyone involved, from the cast, to the band led by John Duboise, to the ingenious design team...I don't think you'll find back-to-back numbers celebrating the heroes of Gilligan's Island and Pride and Prejudice in any other show. But then, that's what makes it The Tamarie Cooper Show.

 


July 31, 2009

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Tamarie Cooper invites you to get in her head


July 27, 2009

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Play Explores the Inner Caveman

The Catastrophic Theatre has mounted a vivid Houston premiere of Hunter Gatherers with a strong cast that makes the most of its biting black comedy and outrageously extreme action. 


April 2, 2009

Spirits dares to be inventive

With most theaters trending to the safe and cozy for the holiday season, leave it to Jason Nodler and his intrepid colleagues at Catastrophic Theatre to serve something bold and crazy — and, in its unique way, absolutely inspired...Spirits to Enforce is the second half of Castastrophic’s two-show series introducing Houston audiences to Chicago playwright Mickle Maher, one of the most original voices in American theater today...With its tricky rhythms, periodic outbursts and silences, Spirits plays like a piece of chamber music. As director, Nodler has conducted expertly, with a feeling for the reality of its fantasy...Spirits makes an ideal ensemble showcase for the Catastrophic company. It’s a triumph of deftly calibrated team playing ...Fans of adventurous theater likely will agree there’s one on stage, too. If you see one show this month that has absolutely nothing to do with the holidays, it should be Spirits to Enforce.


December 12, 2008

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Paul Locklear gives uncanny performance as President Bush

Houston actor Paul Locklear makes the role of George W. Bush uniquely his own with his hilarious yet strangely sympathetic portrayal in Catastrophic Theatre's The Strangerer...Locklear, who looks a bit like Bush to begin with, has mastered the president's trademark idiosyncrasies, mannerisms, delivery and verbal misadventures...One of the most memorable moments is Locklear's virtuosic delivery of a complicated speech in which Bush tries to describe his tortured thought-to-speech process — replete with strangulated what's-he-trying-to-say? pauses, which Locklear times masterfully


November 8, 2008

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Theater review: Catch this debate — The Strangerer

Catastrophic Theatre has mounted a letter-perfect Houston premiere of Chicago playwright Mickle Maher's absurdist political satire...With the world growing more surreal by the moment, it's an achievement that The Strangerer makes the current political scene weirder than it is already. It's certainly a pivotal achievement of Catastrophic's fine rendition that Paul Locklear's uncannily apt Dubya emerges as funnier than the genuine article...Jason Nodler's astute, assertive direction crystallizes the play's moods, whether enigmatic, ruminative or sharply satiric. He and his three actors work the script's many levels without crossing into caricature...The Strangerer may be Theater of the Absurd — yet it's also the funniest and most acutely meaningful example of the genre I've encountered in ages.


October 19, 2008

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Tamarie Cooper dishes up domestic goodness

A gifted performer, writer and director-choreographer, Cooper developed a cult following with her Tamalalia series of wacky autobiographical musicals at Infernal Bridegroom Productions...For those who enjoyed her IBP series, I'd say the new show would rate among the better ones, if not equal to the very best...As always, Cooper makes a merry mistress of ceremonies, spark plug for the party. Besides writing (with input from cast members), she has directed briskly and supplied the lively, intentionally referential, usually funny choreography. Also as in past shows, Cooper is surrounded by a talented team who cut-up, wisecrack, don funny costumes and give high-energy performances of the zany dance numbers. The band, led by John Duboise, is likewise spirited.

 


July 20, 2008

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Troubling, but humorous Truth lies somewhere in the middle of Big Death and Little Death

It's cynical, irreverent, nihilistic and surreal — populated by disaffected, death-obsessed teens and destructive, screwed-up adults, all hurtling toward an inevitable apocalyptic conclusion. For all that, the script boasts its share of mordant humor. Director Jason Nodler and his cast usually make the most of it in a theatrically-charged rendition that maintains interest and often generates its own brand of twisted amusement...As director, Nodler keeps everything on a deadpan edge that lets you take the show either as a somber indictment of society or, perhaps, a parody of nihilism in the arts. He's done a good job keeping the succession of vignettes popping with energy and visual surprises. He configures the action neatly on John Gow's impressive setting


April 8, 2008

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