In Morag Shepherd’s two-hander My Brother Was A Vampire, the banter between siblings of Callum and Skype is often crisp, tart and sardonic but the music, lighting and sound design in the play are the elements that truly bring forth the darkness, vulnerability and brutality underlying their story. There is nothing milquetoast in the outstanding … Read more
In the 2004 novel, Let the Right One In, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, which later was adapted into Swedish and American films as well as a theatrical production, a preteen boy becomes friends with a new neighbor, whom he realizes is a vampire. It is a fine example of a story that bridges … Read more
Many of us overlook the fact that we do not live in a politically correct world. But, there also are numerous reasons why trying to be politically correct or censoring the words we believe might be too sensitive to discuss the topics that should be discussed ends up being nearly as bad. So we fall … Read more
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series of reviews from the 2021 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. For the first part, see here. With the first weekend of the 2021 Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) at The Gateway now in the books, organizers say that ticket sales for live performances are close … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review will present reviews of nine Great Salt Lake Fringe shows in a two-part series on Aug. 2-3. In a recent Facebook post, Utah playwright Morag Shepherd, who has participated several times in the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, wrote, “For those who do not have the luxury or privilege to … Read more
INTRODUCTION One year ago, when The Utah Review presented the 2019 edition of the top 10 moments of the Utah Enlightenment, it was a jubilant representation of Utah’s integral strengths as a community of the arts and the momentum that catapulted Salt Lake City as one of the Intermountain West’s most dynamic centers for creative … Read more
Sometimes, love and romance are fantastical tales of immortal connections reignited through the experience of reincarnation. There also is the mystifying sense of love at first sight. And, then there is déjà vu, that sensation we are familiar with in our dreams but also some of us have experienced it in real life when we … Read more
PLAN-B THEATRE FREE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TOUR (FEST): FLORA MEETS A BEE The sense of feeling borrowed can become alienation. In Morag Shepherd’s Flora Meets A Bee, the latest play in Plan-B Theatre’s successful Free Elementary School Tour (FEST) program, Flora, 8, is committed to making her new friendship stick. In one scene, Flora recalls seeing … Read more
Flora is eight years old. A Latina child, she has been in three foster homes since she was five. Change on such a frequent basis would test any adult’s resilience. Whenever Flora pulls a penny she keeps in her pocket, she remembers her mother: “Mi madre me to dio el que me fui. Creo que … Read more
The remarkable Sackerson theater company’s latest production A Brief Waltz in a Little Room: 23 Short Plays about Walter Eyer is one of the most incisive renderings of the consequential meanings and impact of a sense of place in Utah. Since Utah was settled more than 170 years ago, an all-abiding cult of perfectionism has shadowed, … Read more