Pleasingly profane and frequently grotesque, Dario Fo's "Elizabeth" comes to life in a typically Kantor staging, where what matters is as much the style and theatricality of the play as its reimagining of the private and interior late life of the virgin queen. Though it's never less than diverting, overall I felt the play was a mite shallow, its irreverences, anachronisms and throwaway lines and devices (fourth wall-breaking and otherwise) often coming off as a free-floating postmodernism-lite lacking any genuine artistic purpose; that said, there were moments in its second half which felt like real theatre, which is another way of saying that they felt real, which in the end, and coupled with with a fantastic set and strong performances (Julie Forsyth in the lead role, so that pretty much goes without saying) left me feeling that this was well worthwhile.
(w/ Wei)
