It's not on glossy paper, there are no frills, and not every newsstand carries it. But they should. The fact that Chatterton is intimately involved with the seething shoestring cauldron of small theatres his magazine reviews means the magazine has a serious purpose and point of view. Reviews are brief, insightful, informed, and illuminating, and as useful to the general audience as to the particular creative people scrutinized. Toronto, Cleveland, and Australia are also represented.
Theater is a hand-crafted, local product.
I've been seing plays in Boston for nearly forty years, but that doesn't mean I know anything about the theater scene in other cities. Most are lengthy and thorough, so the shape of the show and details of production are clear beyond the reviewer's opinions of them. G.L.Horton's reviews in particular have a depth and clarity rare in newspapers and magazines. Like John Chatterton, she is a working playwright whose eye takes in all aspects of a production, and her judgements are thoughtful. Hers is a refreshing antidote to a tendency toward posturing and vindictiveness that characterizes much of the print media reviewing here in Boston.