Ensemble Theatre’s ‘Ages of the Moon’ lacks gravitational pull

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

 

 

Several years ago, in a revival of Sam Shepard’s “True West” at New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre, actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly alternated the roles of the two estranged brothers every third performance. They did this for the creative challenge and the box office draw.

 

Allan Byrne and Allen Branstein might consider doing the same in Shepard’s “Ages of the Moon,” currently on stage at Ensemble Theatre.  But they should swap roles permanently to help salvage this occasionally moving but largely tepid production under Stephen Vasse-Hansell’s direction.

 

For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.