Pics from BEAST OF HYPERBOREA at the 2019 FIT

All photos of Brad McEntire performing The Beast of Hyperborea at the 2019 Festival of Independent Theatres at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas, TX. Photo Credit for all pics: Audacity Theatre Lab

Nice Write-up about HYPERBOREA on SharpCritic.com

Nice write-up from Christopher Soden on SharpCritic.com

This summer the annual Festival of Independent Theatres featured short plays addressing the theme of Coming of Age. The six I attended were: Leos Ensemble – small hours (Directed by Nick Leos) Lily & Joan Theatre Company– Marilyn, Pursued by a Bear (Directed by Emily Burgardt) Imprint Theatreworks – Dirty Dirty Night Squirrel (Directed by Taylor Mercado Owens) WingSpan Theatre, Co – Jo & Louisa (Directed by Susan Sargeant ) The Very Good Dance Theatre – The 1st Annual Gay Show (Directed by William Acker; Choreographed By Danielle Georgiou) Audacity Theatre Lab – The Beast of Hyperborea (Created by Brad McEntire). Some evinced better than others, though just as in past summers, each had its particular quirks, its peculiar charms.

. . .

Brad McEntire’s The Beast of Hyperborea features an accountant who is horns-waggled into a trip to a remote island in search of a legendary monster. Like poor Bilbo Baggins, he’s not the least interested in risking physical and/or emotional harm for the sake of mind-bending adventure. Beast is a fairly traditional narrative souped up by McEntire to appeal to contemporary audiences. There’s a strong, able-bodied lady, who smokes cigars, and embraces danger with gusto. There’s a misogynistic, stuffy buffoon, a Baron proficient in the martial arts, and a Captain who’s more about canny nerve than bloviating. McEntire knows how to blend the touching with the fanciful, the astonishing with gravitas. While he sometimes seems to be winking at us, at other times his credulity gives this vivid monologue substance and humanity.

The Bath House Cultural Center presents: The 21st Annual Festival of Independent Theatres: Coming of Age, playing July 12th _ August 3rd, 2019. 521 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, Texas 75218. 1-800-617-6904.       www.festivalof independenttheatres.org

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Frank Garrett weighs in on BEAST OF HYPERBOREA

Local Dallas critic and translator Frank Garrett writes on his blog MyCrashCourse.net...

"The Beast of Hyperborea" - Audacity Theatre Lab - Brad McEntire is a talented performer and a staunch supporter of solo performers in the area. This play wraps an interesting adventure story in a great retro aura. The slideshow at the end of the performance feels tacked on; I think it'd be more effective if it were used throughout the show.

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FIT Review: The Beast of Hyperborea

A "ripping yarn" in the grand old tradition, from Brad McEntire of Audacity Theatre Lab.

by Jill Sweeney | TheaterJones.com
published Sunday, July 21, 2019

Warning: Spoilers!

Dallas — The Beast of Hyperborea, presented by Audacity Theatre Lab, takes its inspiration from fantastical works by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard. Creator and performer Brad McEntire (the driving force behind this cutting-edge “theatre collective”) has put together a truly ripping yarn in classic Victorian style for his one-man entry in the Festival of Independent Theatres.

McEntire plays Edward Joseph Reade, a mild-mannered accountant and sole survivor of a doomed 1895 expedition to the mysterious isle of Hyperborea—fictitiously north of Scotland and south of the Arctic Circle—and home to the titular Beast. Presenting his tale as a sort of lecture to an "unseen" audience, Reade recounts how, after answering a newspaper advertisement seeking a bookkeeper, he was swept up into a series of ever-more dramatic and larger-than-life adventures.

All the characters are portrayed with dazzling nuance by McEntire: famed aeronaut Captain Saltwood; expert mountain climber and martial artist the Baron Frichte; and big-game hunter and all-around adventuress Marie Clemeneau. The daring crew, led by Saltwood, sets out to explore the mysterious and uncharted island where Saltwood’s comrade (and Marie’s father) met his end at the hands of the Beast, leaving behind him a journal detailing his discoveries. The trio of adventurers and the reluctant Reade begin to grow closer as they speed toward their destination, likening themselves to Dumas’ Musketeers. How tragic, then, that Reade alone survives the perilous journey and the violent confrontation with the Beast, and must shoulder the duty of presenting proof of the island’s (and the creature’s) existence.

On a simply lit stage with minimal set and sound design, McEntire commands the space and deftly avoids the common pitfalls of a one-man show. Each character he portrays is distinct without tipping into cartoonish excess. While his Reade is a quiet, self-effacing sort, ill-suited for adventures (as the Hobbits would say, “nasty, dirty, uncomfortable things—make you late for dinner”), Captain Saltwood is a bluff, squinting man’s man. Contrast them with the effete Baron (presented with a competent, if slightly obscure, Germanic accent) and the cool, daring Marie, who dispatches misogynists and monsters with equal élan. The audience was spellbound, reacting with gasps and laughter, and was a hairsbreadth away from outright cheering at an unexpected resurrection. (From the start we know all but one are doomed—but McEntire leaves room for surprise.)

The show’s final, silent moments, accompanied by a cleverly period-accurate slideshow, was unexpectedly poignant. Bravo to McEntire for bringing not only the thrills to his tall tale, but heart as well.

This one’s a “can’t miss” in my book.

» The Beast of Hyperborea is performed:

• 8 p.m. Thursday, July 25
• 8 p.m. Saturday, July 27
• 5 p.m. Sunday, July 28
• 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3

» The 21st annual Festival of Independent Theatres runs through Aug. 3, 2019 at The Bath House Cultural Center. For more information, visit www.festivalofindependenttheatres.org or call 1-800-617-6904.

To see a breakdown of the groups and shows, go here.

To see reviews and more coverage of FIT, see our special section here.

NOTE: The spelling of character names have been corrected from the original article.

Original article... HERE