Dear Sir:
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On the strength of Lawrence Bommer’s glowing review of Henry IV at the Folio Theatre in a recent edition of the Reader [February 4], my husband and I made the effort to see it. After surviving the experience, I cannot help but wonder if we saw the same production of the same play as did Mr. Bommer. Mr. Bommer’s review called this production “powerfully crafted, well paced, and riding a flood of intelligent energy.” He ignores the embarrassingly bad costumes, the inept staging, and the fact that the director has allowed several of the actors to scream as if they were performing on a football field instead of in a very small theater. However, it is a good thing that Mr. Bommer recapped the entire plot in his review because the audience could never have followed the story simply by watching this production.
From surviving this painful theatergoing experience, we learned never to believe a review by Mr. Bommer. In the future, we will make a point to see the productions he negatively reviews.
