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Sly in Bottomless Love, by Gordon Rogoff
Ron Rosenbaum's new book The Shakespeare Wars takes careful aim at the excesses of the academic Shakespeare Industry but unfortunately scores only sporadic hits.

Our Debts to the Duke: A Note, by Stanley Kauffmann
All contemporary theatergoers owe a debt to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1826-1914). A probing essay explains why.

Acceptance Speech for the Thalia Prize, by Eric Bentley
In his speech accepting the first International Association of Theatre Critics' Thalia Prize, Eric Bentley reflected on criticism and on his long and productive career.

The Second Life of Rachel Corrie, by Jason Fitzgerald
Despite the "murky waters of controversy," there is beauty and a powerful "call to action" in the documentary drama inspired by a young American woman who famously died defending a Palestinian home.

Tim Crouch's Theatrical Transformations, an interview with Caridad Svich
The remarkably versatile and protean British author-performer of My Arm and An Oak Tree speaks at length about his unique creative process.

Richard Gilman: In Memoriam
A farewell to one of the great 20th-century theater writers, who died in Japan on Oct. 29, 2006.

Staging Sam: Beckett as Dramatic Character, by Hersh Zeifman
To the copious evidence of Samuel Beckett's world-wide stature, add now the fact that he has been used as a dramatic character by at least three very different playwrights.

Are We All Eating Cake?, by Karin Badt
A critic of French background skewers Sofia Coppola's political disinterest and historical ignorance in her new film Marie Antoinette.

Go Ost Young Man: New Theater in Berlin and Copenhagen, by Kathleen Dimmick
Recent productions at the Volksbuhne and Berliner Ensemble in Berlin and at the Royal Theater, the Badteatret and the Cafe Teatret in Copenhagen exemplify stand as important critical reflections of their societies.

Rewriting Revenge, by Gordon Carver
A recent revival of Cyril Tourneur's Jacobean classic The Revenger's Tragedy, adapted by Jesse Berger, provides an occasion to reflect broadly on the revenge-play genre.

An Unsentimental Education, by Caridad Svich
Alan Bennett's The History Boys is "a deeply funny, heartbreakingly anguished exploration of a monumental social shift" that took place during the Thatcher years.

FORUM ON MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
HotReview.org enters the editorial fray in response to New York Theatre Workshop's controversial decision to postpone production of a play drawn from the writings of a young American woman killed while protesting Israeli treatment of Palestinians:

A Singular Voice, by Terry Stoller
An Open Letter to James Nicola, by Robert Simpson McLean
Thoughts on My Name is Rachel Corrie, by Miriam Felton-Dansky

Macbeth's Tomorrow, by Stanley Kauffmann
Remembered after 87 years, a whimsical English comedy sheds light on "one of the most beautiful passages ever written in the English language."

On a Far-Away Island, by Martin Harries
Behind Kate Valk's masterful performance in the Wooster Group's revival of its 1998 production of The Emperor Jones lurk serious questions of historical and political context that beg to be unpacked.

Measure for Pleasure, by Alisa Solomon
The London Globe Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, starring and directed by Mark Rylance, is inspiring, infused with an exhilarating sense of new discovery.

Beyond Landscape, by Una Chaudhuri
The Broadway production of Edward Albee's 1975 play Seascape offers the rare and moving specatcle of a landscape imbued with a new environmental ethics.

Brilliant Gestures, by Caridad Svich
John Doyle's new Broadway version of Sweeney Todd is "a ritualized, madhouse retelling" of the classic Sondheim musical that delivers all the requisite thrills but also demands much of the audience.

Cirque du Soulless, by Kevin Byrne
Equal parts magic show, medicine show, freak show and revival meeting, the latest production by the National Theater of the United States of America, Abacus Black Strikes NOW!, is a marvel of politically jumbled flimflammery.

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