Any Night

WEST COAST PREMIERE - LOS ANGELES
QUOTES FROM THE LA TIMES REVIEW:
  • "riveting performances by Zac Thomas and Marie Fahlgren…” ​
“Thomas and Fahlgren strike no false notes in Newman’s sterling production…”    ​
  • “Elizabeth V. Newman’s authoritative staging incorporates the bizarre and the quotidian into a seamless dreamscape..."
  • "Choreographer Erica Gionfriddo contributes masterly dance sequences, enacted with lissome skill by the agile actors..."
​"Eliot Gray Fisher’s virtuosic sound design keeps the mood appropriately fraught.” 
  • Included in Baker's Dozen Best of 2017
    Any Night gobsmacked me. It totally put me on the edge of my seat, remained compelling every single moment, yet never stopped surprising me over and over and over again.  This makes for no small feat!  Essentially framed as one of those thrillers where deciding who to trust becomes the focal point of everything, it adds to the problem by taking away our knowledge of what we might view as real.  Like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, we end up questioning everything, and until the very end the pieces never quite fit perfectly into place.  But when they do, it proves heart-breaking.
ANY NIGHT
LOS ANGELES PRESS QUOTES...
  • "Fahlgren and Thomas perform with skill and verve..." 
  • ​- StageRaw.com
  • "Playwrights Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn launch a psychological thriller that is gripping to the very end." ​
  • ​- Paul Myrvolds Theatre Notes
  • "Director Elizabeth V. Newman certainly leads a gifted, disciplined team to create this fundamentally disturbing, nerve-scraping tale of love and loss, horror and despair, hope and desperation in such a visceral, intimate way." 
  • -The World Through Night-Tinted Glasses  (zahirblue.blogspot.com)
"There is something dangerous and tense about Any Night from the moment the play commences; it is to Newman's credit that she is able to maintain the tension right up until the final, shattering moments." 
- Total Theatre.com
  • "The director, Elizabeth V. Newman, accurately describes the play as a 'fever dream or a nightmare," one that unfolds on a soundscape filled with "stifled screams pierced with echoes of songs half-remembered."  
  • ​-TotalTheatre.com
  • "Brilliant writing, directing and acting make Any Night the success it is."
  • - TotalTheatre.com
  • "Under the keen direction of Elizabeth Newman, Any Night is utterly absorbing to the very end..." ​
    - Paul Myrvolds Theatre Notes
  • "...excellent, passionate performances of the husband and wife team of Zac Thomas and Marie Fahlgren." 
    - Paul Myrvolds Theatre Notes​
  • "The choreography by Erica Gionfriddo is fluid and athletic, with writhing lifts and twining movements that convey subconscious states and dangerous passions.  This is daring physical theatre."
    ​- Paul Myrvolds Theatre Notes
    • "Thomas and Fahlgren work beautifully together, capturing the many sides of their strange, tortured characters with an assurance that is quite remarkable." 
    • ​- TotalTheatre.com​
  • "Elizabeth V. Newman's stage direction makes this stage work as fiery, leading up to its climatic conclusions."  
    - Accessibility Live Off Line
"[Fahlgren & Thomas] work together beautifully in this difficult and emotionally intense one act performance." 
​- BabyBoomster.com
  • "Suffice it to say that the dark, subconscious vision of Any Night never falters or weakens. It is scary as hell from beginning to end."  ​
  • - Total Theatre.com
  • ​"Strong production work adds to the sinister goings-on, with a disordered, tangled set suggesting the fragmented world of sleep. ​Lighting and sound enhance the feelings of otherworldliness and foreboding, with costumes playing into the feelings of duplicity."  
  • -The Tolucan Times

Betrayal

Included in  Austin’s 10 most memorable
​theater productions of 2017 
There’s something delightful about a classic play presented in a straightforward manner, and that’s exactly what “Betrayal” was. The Harold Pinter work, famous for its presentation of scenes in backward order (as parodied in the final season of “Seinfeld”), is full of barely repressed lust and rage, as well as heartbreaking secrets. This was the first production of a new theater company, Filigree Theatre, and director Elizabeth V. Newman and producer Stephanie Moore found the perfect cast with which to launch their work. David Moxham, Emily Rankin and J. Kevin Smith simmered with sensuality, stolen glances and mysteries kept even from the audience. At the end of the show, I was left with the feeling of provocative textual undercurrents and hidden possibilities that can be found in the best productions of Pinter, which makes me
​eager to see what Filigree Theatre does next. 
QUOTES FROM AUSTIN 360 AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN REVIEW:
“With such an accomplished first production under its belt, we can only hope to see continued work of such quality and excitement as Filigree Theatre continues to make itself known throughout Austin.”
  • “The secret to the success of this production of “Betrayal” is its three main cast members — David Moxham, Emily Rankin and J. Kevin Smith (Felix Alonzo rounds out the cast in a charmingly comedic bit part).”
The simmering sexuality of the scenes between Jerry and Emma is matched by the quiet resentments of Emma’s relationship with Robert, and Robert’s dual jealousy and deep love of Jerry."
“Filigree’s production, thanks to its talented cast, cuts to the heart of these secrets with an intriguing, close-vested, nuanced version of the play…”
  • “To play these deliciously layered levels of text and subtext requires extremely nuanced performances, and all three actors are more than up to the task. The subtle gestures, facial tics and posture changes of the characters speak volumes amid the famous “Pinter pauses” that litter the text, revealing as much through what remains unsaid as is told in the dialogue.”​
QUOTES FROM THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE REVIEW:
"Perfected "Pinter pauses" and all, Newman and her cast take a well-known script, often derided for its problematic misogyny and cavalier attitude toward spousal abuse (a particular line is addressed in the program), and show us a side of adultery we may not often consider. Are we in control of who we love, and are we even conscious of it? And in the end, toward for whom is the betrayal most bitter: our partners or ourselves?"
"Moxham brings a nervous energy to the character – Jerry's neediness is downplayed in favor of an unearned smugness at the cuckolding to which he is party. It's a bold choice, and Newman is right to have her actor explore it, as it changes the landscape of the play in a compelling way. As Emma, gallery owner and other half of the longtime tryst, Emily Rankin is quiet but pointed; an aura of crisp dignity surrounds her as she negotiates her feelings in a refined manner. There's an agency to this Emma not often found."
"Director Elizabeth V. Newman's studied and steady cast delivers a solid performance, exploring the toll on the human psyche born of illicit choices."
"The set and props were designed by Newman and producer Stephanie Moore, to mostly wonderful effect.  The set is wide and open, making great use of space, with nearly every scene pre-set at once, frenetically shifting with lighting changes to create self-contained moments onstage, clearly defined as their own worlds...The back wall is an impressive collage of pages, illustrations, and columns of books, surrounding the characters in a world of language so well-used by the playwright."
"The dialect work is near flawless, and it speaks volumes to coach Bernadette Nason's work that, although I'd skimmed the program and read that one of the two main male actors was a genuine Brit, I couldn't remember which it was."
QUOTES FROM BROADWAY WORLD
"There is an impressive surgical precision behind The Filigree Theatre's current production of Harold Pinter's autobiographical play, BETRAYAL."
  • "It's J. Kevin Smith who really nails the underlying passion in the text though, effectively portraying Robert with the underlying rage that the entire situation deserves. His portrayal allows for us to laugh in all the right places, too, and in much needed relief, without ever betraying (pun intended) the seriousness of the script."
  • BETRAYAL is not light-hearted fare. This is a juicy topic to consider, and a play written by an iconic modern playwright. It may not be for the casual theatre goer, nor is the play for your average theatre company. Filigree is certainly not that, and has done an impressive job of producing this version of BETRAYAL.​
  • "this production is executed with impressive precision, and remains professionally faithful to Pinter's style..."

A Delicate Ship

AUSTIN PREMIERE
  • "In the second production of the company’s premiere season, Filigree Theatre’s Austin premiere of “A Delicate Ship” takes this nuanced script and gives it a thoughtful, heartbreaking production."​
  • "The Filigree Theatre’s production of this moody, moving work is a subtle, emotional exploration of the complicated nature of modern love and adulthood, and it’s well worth seeing."
  • "Of special note is Laura Ray as Sarah. In many ways, “A Delicate Ship” is Sarah’s story, and Ray’s performance anchors the production with a thoroughly believable, likable female lead. Even as we question some of Sarah’s decisions (or lack thereof), her motivation is always crystal clear, to a heartbreaking degree."

Trio

WORLD PREMIERE
  • "...easily the most kinetic and visually impressive production of Filigree’s season, serving as a welcome display of the diverse types of works that the fledgling company is prepared to produce."  - AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN
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