Dead Dog's Bone: A Birthday Play

This is thoroughly outstanding and well-executed show; charming and lovable actors, crisp, inventive writing and a few little tech and staging miracles. Really touching and funny! One of the gems of this year's Fringe!... full review

Dead Dog's Bones was very well done. Whimsical, yet deep - the message was powerful without being heavy handed. Production values matched the values of the play itself - beautifully executed. Each actor nailed it. Highly recommend! And it's been extended, so GO SEE IT!... full review

There were some lovely moments by the cast, some fun theatricality and the writing in places was well done. But overall, with its scattered and fractured nature and the choice to cast young actors in the roles of father and mother, the piece didn't ring as true or emotionally deep as it could be. Hopefully, with more time and further work, this will become a full-length play that finds a good home.... full review

So many positive reviews, I was expecting something great. But the characters aren't ever established nor are their motivations. Maybe having the mother and the son both played by 20 somethings and then dressing them equally contemporary was part of the confusion. In fact, I don't even know if it was a mother and a son character or not. I think there maybe was? I don't know. Anyway, there's some conflict somewhere, but I don't know who it's between or why it matters or what it's about. The relationships weren't obvious and the dynamics weren't there. I didn't know who liked each other or who didn't. Was there a breakup? Some family trauma? This is so unclear. Was there an antagonist or a protagonist? I haven't any idea. I ... full review

Perhaps I might have missed the establishing set up at the beginning due to people being seated after the show had begun but it was quite distracting and this was an extremely confusing and hard to follow play for me. I read in the description of the play (afterwards) it said it "transcends time and place" but having people communicating with telegrams, letters, and using laptops, I felt there wasn't a specific motivated choice for it. Hopping from different times and places without a "home base" also left me with an unsettled feeling. If the Virgin Mary was supposed to be the center keeping all these little moments together, it took me a little while to understand it. The show ran a bit long on the night attended and I kept wonderin... full review