“You have a good heart, and sometimes it’s enough to see you through life, but mostly it’s not.” A riveting urban fantasy from fiction-writer mastermind Neil Gaiman comes to life on the stage as Rorschach Theatre presents the area premier of Neverwhere, adapted for the stage by Robert Kauzlaric. Directed by Jenny McConnell Frederick, this visually stunning production delivers a tried and true justice to the phantasmagorical magnificence that is Gaiman’s work. A brilliantly haunting tale with cracks of sparkling magic woven seamless into every element of the production, it’s the most mystifying show you’ll see all season.
– DC Metro Theatre Arts (CLICK HERE for the full article)
The inventive Rorschach Theatre has a flair for cult fantasy, but the troupe has upped its game big-time for the sprawling Neverwhere. The wild plot careens through a seedy underworld known as London Below, and the set takes up all of a large black-box theater in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where the actors make use of every corner of the room. Victorian assassins, fallen angels, a time-warp fop, pirates and prostitutes, plus helpful rats and huge scary beasts — the apparitions seem never-ending.
– Washington Post (CLICK HERE for the full article)
Lovers of fantasy and graphic novels will eat up the whole demonic enchilada, especially the deliciously gruesome touches—the squeaky patter of the rats, the audioscape of dripping water and echoing groans, the crumbling London Underground signs and crumbling columns that hint at the world above ground, the 360-degree staging that envelopes you in every aspect of the experience.
– DC Theatre Scene (CLICK HERE for the full article)
Attempting a stage edition of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (in its theatrical adaptation by Robert Kauzlaric) is, at the very least, ambitious. A cynic might call it borderline impossible–after all, Neverwhere is the story of a man landed in the strange and fantastical darkness of London Below, where bizarre and frightening creatures emerge from the gap between the Tube train and platform. A giant pig haunts the sewers, and Knightsbridge is a bridge made of actual night. However, Rorschach Theatre has managed to capture every drop of weirdness, humor, and fascination that the original novel and miniseries had in spades.
– MD Theatre Guide (CLICK HERE for the full article)
Gaiman fans will leave thrilled they’ve seen their favorite tome or BBC series fleshed out so thoroughly. But fans of books alone don’t sell out theaters: Brilliant, 3D productions do.
— Washington City Paper (CLICK HERE for the full article)
The cast talks about how “The Nether Half Lives” in the WASHINGTON POST EXPRESS HERE
The WASHINGTON POST interviews Debra Kim Sivigny about her remarkable costumes HERE
Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker talks about the Rorschach Theatre’s successful Neverwhere Kickstarter campaign in THE WASHINGTON POST Backstage column HERE and to DC THEATRE SCENE HERE
Director Jenny McConnell Frederick talks to METRO WEEKLY about “Staging the impossible” HERE