Profiles and Reviews
Marc Atkinson Borrull’s work has been critically acclaimed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Financial Times, The Times of London, The Guardian, The Irish Times and Irish Independent among many other international publications. Here are some extracts from recent reviews and profiles:
Beginning (Gate Theatre, Dublin)
The Irish Times: ***** [Five Stars] “It says something about the director Marc Atkinson’s beautifully measured production that, although you are not at all sure if they will fall in love with each other, you are destined to fall in love with them, two fun, idiosyncratic, exquisitely lonely souls.”
Sunday Independent: “under Marc Atkinson's soaringly magnificent direction, it has you on the edge of your seat, mainly due to the determined courage of not being afraid of stillness - you can almost hear your own heart beating in sympathy with Laura and Danny's tentative approaches to stripping away the defences.”
The Irish Independent: “Marc Atkinson's confident direction creates the space for these two detailed, unhurried performances.”
Irish Mail on Sunday: ***** [Five Stars] “Marc Atkinson’s direction makes skillful use of strained silence and physical distance to raise the dramatic tension and to underline the gap and attraction between the characters.”
The Arts Review: ***** [Five Stars] “Compositionally, as with pacing, director Marc Atkinson does a sterling job, seeming to leave no fingerprints”
TN2: ***** [Five Stars] “director Atkinson should be given tremendous credit for allowing his actors simply to be onstage, to exist in the world the production has so convincingly constructed. Eruptions of emotion and conflict are the more convincing precisely because of the electric, bristling silence they interrupt.”
The Times: **** [Four Stars"] “Director Marc Atkinson plays up the awkwardness well”
Irish Examiner: **** [Four Stars]
Sunday Business Post: **** [Four Stars] “Marc Atkinson’s meticulously measured production”
Outlying Islands (NYC & Dublin)
The Sunday Times: This Week's Theatre Highlight: "Marc Atkinson's production and strong cast ably amplify the looming threat of the Second World War. A sympathetic staging of a play which has much topical resonance. Dreamlike."
The Sunday Business Post: Scotland's Best Playwright Delivers the Goods Again: "Directed by Marc Atkinson, this revival is first and foremost an excellent piece of stagecraft. Exerts its hypnotic grip from the opening scene and contains several moments that I expect to be thinking about for months if not years to come"
The Irish Times: The Scottish Island The British Bombed with Anthrax: "The actors move tensely around their bijou circle with the dexterity of dancers – or, maybe, boxers"
The Irish Times: This Week at the Theatre: "Staged by Sugarglass Theatre Company, the accomplished and innovative group based between Dublin and New York, and directed by Marc Atkinson, David Greig’s 2002 play is urgent and considered, based on a real history, depicting a microcosm of society at a time of upheaval."
The Times of London: "A new venture has been launched by a young Irish theatre company to swap talent and shows between Ireland and the US."
Exeunt Magazine: "Marc Atkinson’s searching production takes us right to the source"
TN2: "Beautiful. Visceral and sensual, balancing severe sexual tension with themes such as isolation, youth and institutionalism."
No More Workhorse: "Marc Atkinson continues to make a name for himself in the industry. A striking and stylish production that lures you in:
Little Gem (Irish Rep, NYC)
The New Yorker: “An altogether winning revival […] Marc Atkinson Borrull stages the interwoven solos with a simple, fluid elegance.”
The New York Times: Marsha Mason in fine form […] This depiction of matrilineal love and support feels bold in an era when dysfunction too often is the cheap fossil fuel of narrative engines”
The Financial Times: **** [Four Stars}
New York Stage Review: **** [Four Stars] “As tidily directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull, the actors do extremely well”
Theatremania: “Director Marc Atkinson Borrull has furnished his actors with a fairly barebones production that keeps one’s focus almost entirely on characters and their words - not that Little Gem needs any extra technical frills to gussy up its mundane human dramas when they’re rendered as delicately, empathetically, and perceptively as they are here.”
Lighting & Sound America: “Sensitive, highly alert direction” Read Full Review Here
Theatre Pizzaz: “Director Marc Atkinson Borrull has done a magnificent job in choreographing his players with a stunning economy of movement.”
All Hell Lay Beneath (Dublin Fringe)
The Irish Times: Peter Crawley's Top Highlight of Dublin Fringe 2012: "Wonderfully inventive and richly immersive, Marc Atkinson’s loose retelling of Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf as a party of blissful discoveries, surreal interactions and a sobering reminder of the cost of decadence. Heavenly".
The Irish Times: Laurence Mackin: "A Four Star Delight"
Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland): "Fantastically reflects the decadent atmosphere of the novel. Proved to be an integral production which won the nominations to almost all prizes at the festival."
Entertainment.ie: "Absolutely Brilliant. Five Stars.
The Irish Times: Cultural Highlights of the Year: "An immersive, theatrical experience that was as ambitious as it was inventive – take a bow Sugarglass Theatre and All Hell Lay Beneath"
World Irish: Darragh Doyle: "Mad, crazy, opulent, odd and extravagant with a healthy dose of creative divilment behind it, All Hell Lay Beneath is a must-do for ABSOLUT Fringe, for a Dublin city theatrical experience like no other."