Theater Reviews: Off-Broadway Provides a Haunted Take on “Antigone” With “The Other Place,” an All-Too Prescient Look at Immigration Policies in “Data” and Folk Music as a Healing Tonic in “The Porch on Windy Hill”

The Other Place (c) Maria Baranova

Theater: The Other Place 
At The Shed 

When playwright Alexander Zeldin states that his new play, The Other Place, is loosely based on Antigone, he isn’t kidding. While the major characters are still here, the modern update has decided to take liberties with the plot while keeping the Greek tragedy mood intact. Creon, the uncle king of Antigone and Ismene, is now Chris (Tobias Menzies), and his nieces are the artist Issy (Ruby Stokes) and the black sheep of the family Annie (Emma D’Arcy), who was sent away to boarding school after the death of her father led to a mental break. Years later, Annie has returned to her father’s home where Chris and his new family, wife Erica (Nina Sosanya), Eurydice in the original, and her child Leni (Lee Braithwaite), are now living. Annie is against spreading her father’s ashes on a memorial in the town park, hoping to keep them either in the house or buried on the estate. (In Antigone, it is her brother she wants to bury honorably, even though Creon believed he was a traitor.) Chris wants to move on with his life with new family and just leave the past behind. It’s funny to note that for a week, New York audiences could watch Robert Icke’s Oedipus revival on Broadway (recently closed) and hop the 7 train to the Shed to see Oedipus’ daughter Antigone’s story. The changes Zeldin makes to Antigone’s story (as Icke did with Oedipus) will be sort of a shock to purists, but he does put some 21st-century themes of past trauma into the motivation of some of these characters that will keep the audience glued to the soapy nature of this family drama. 

Film Reviews: Three New, Edgy Films With Unique One Word Titles Deal With BDSM (“Pillion”), Sexual Freedom (“Jimpa”) and Hopelessness (the Oscar-Nominated “Sirât”)

Jimpa (c) Kino Lorber

Film: Jimpa
In Cinemas 

Definition: Jimpa is a made-up nickname for a character in this film. 

Film: Oscar Nominations 2025 - 2026

Sinners (c) Warner Bros

The 98th Academy Awards | 2026 

Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood 

Sunday, March 15, 2025 

Surprises (to me) in Red (!) 

Best Picture 

Bugonia 
F1 
Frankenstein 
Hamnet 
Marty Supreme 
One Battle after Another 
The Secret Agent 
Sentimental Value 
Sinners 
Train Dreams 

Theater Review: The Concept of Theater Itself Is Expanded With Mixed Reality at the Shed (“An Ark”) and Through the Choreography of Black Culture Stepping (“Try/Step/Trip”)

An Ark (c) Rachel Louise Brown

Theater: An Ark 
At the Shed 

If you have ever gone up the Vessel (when it was allowed), Hudson Yards, New Jersey in the distance and most of the West Side of Manhattan will look both familiar and yet totally surreal from the top vantage point. The same can be said for An Ark, the new (and supposedly first) mixed-reality play presented next door at The Shed. There are two experiences to be had at The Level 2 Gallery. One is everything you need to do to prepare for the play and second is the play itself. The filmed play is written by Simon Stephens, directed by Sarah Frankcom and boasts Arinzé Kene, Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel and Rosie Sheehy in the cast. The whole concept of the evening is credited to Todd Eckert. 

The Interested Bystander’s Final Oscar Nomination Predictions: January 2026

KPop Demon Hunters (c) Netflix

After a pretty uneventful and unsurprising December and early January, most of the films that were deemed worthy have been confirmed to be the frontrunners with barely a threat from any other whippersnapper film hoping to break through. The top three movies after the summer film festivals have always been One Battle After Another, Sinners and Hamnet and they seem unstoppable. I just hope there is some big surprise in one of the major categories this year. I am still holding on to the very slight chance of Jennifer Lawrence and Zoey Deutch making the acting categories (they are in my runners-up section). The nominations will be announced by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman on Thursday morning, Jan 23 

Enjoy!