Shake at Theatre of NOTE

Shake

Theatre of NOTE
1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood

Shake examines the hopes, infidelities, deceptions, losses, and loves of flawed individuals who inhabit post-911 Manhattan. Their story is told backwards, revealing the complexities of their relationships as it heads from August 2002 to the evening before the fateful event.

Thru - Sep 5, 2010

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 8:00pm

Sundays: 7:00pm

Show Type: Drama

Box Office: 310-856-8611

www.theatreofnote.com

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Shake Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

LA Weekly - Recommended

"...Told forward, it's a soap opera -- going back, a parlor game. We know this drama traces back to the fall of the towers, but when we get there, we realize Bill and Peggy's relationship was already headed to destruction -- 9/11 simply changed the route. More catastrophic is the entrance of Claire (Hiwa Bourne), a femme fatale who uses the disaster for her own ends, though even she, too, is scrabbling for a purpose. Kiff Scholl's direction knows that with every scene, the characters know less and hope more. Under his guidance, Phelan's New York naif is especially heartbreaking. She's a girl with simple dreams, and within the year, even those are impossibly far away."

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- Amy Nicholson

Backstage - Somewhat Recommended

"...With smart staging on a simple set (Terence McFadden), director Kiff Scholl does an extraordinarily handy job helping us put together the pieces to track the implosion of Bill and Peggy's relationship, as well as guiding us through implausible twists and turns prompted by the play's other characters. But while "Shake" contains interesting ideas and graceful writing, what this inside study of destruction fails to do is make us invest in, or care about, the lives that have fallen apart. So, for all its thoughtful engineering, perhaps it lacks a solid foundation."

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- Jennie Webb

LA Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended

"...What troubled me about the piece was the mismatched intensity and clarity between acts. Shake started off strong with all of the important elements of great theatre working as one unit. But something was lost after intermission. As we moved toward the source of what triggered these lives to spiral, the connection is lost from page to stage. The resolution in act two did not fulfill the anticipation built up in the first. Mr. Fardon's message or point to the play is undefined. Yet, its redeeming quality is his ability to capture the spirit of the human condition."

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- Sylvia Blush

EyeSpyLA - Not Recommended

"...Joshua Fardon's time bending new play tries to shake out a story following the aftermath of 9/11, but fails to stir any emotional appeal or connection to this tragic event. Moving backwards in time through reverse chronology, the patchwork scenes provide little ground from which anyone can hope to understand the inexplicably hostile characters or their involvement with each other. As angry and shell-shocked as they are in August 2002, from which the play begins, they are just as distant and shattered to the play's end the day before. Were it not for the date lit up between each transition, the passing of time-no matter its trajectory-is hardly relevant."

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- M.R. Hunter

Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended

"...Provocative, engaging, funny, and frequently riveting, Shake is likely to keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish-and give you plenty to talk about and reflect on long after its final blackout."

- Steven Stanley

The Tolucan Times - Highly Recommended

"...Shake doesn't tell the story of 9/11 through the eyes of selfless heroes. The men and women we follow are deeply flawed, troubled, and self-destructive. But their humanity, with all its concomitant warts and missteps, is the very thing we need to make sense of our own pain. Masterful direction and an extraordinary cast further propel the production into a wholly rewarding theater-going experience. An essential addition to this summer's calendar."

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- Joseph Schneider

Shake at Theatre of NOTE

Shake

Shake Reviews

LA Weekly - Recommended

Backstage - Somewhat Recommended

LA Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended

EyeSpyLA - Not Recommended

Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended

The Tolucan Times - Highly Recommended

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