Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Smith, Anna Deavere - Robert Brustein (review date 2 May 1994)

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Robert Brustein (review date 2 May 1994)

SOURCE: "P.C.—or Not P.C.," in The New Republic, Vol. 210, No. 18, May 2, 1994, pp. 29-31.

[Brustein is a highly-regarded American drama critic. In the review of Twilight below, he comments on Smith's performance, her characterization, and her depiction of the multicultural issues surrounding the riots.]

The most cogent commentators on our stormy times have unquestionably been not the columnists but the cartoonists, which is another way of noting that representational satire has more capacity than political commentary to relieve the pressures of a fractious age. On stage two inspired performers have recently been offering their own perspectives on the issues that divide us, and while the African American Anna Deavere Smith and the Jewish Jackie Mason seem worlds apart in tone, attitude, focus and ethnicity, they each provide more perspective on the nature of our discords than an army of...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works∗
3. Criticism
   1. Anna Deavere Smith with Steve Proffitt (interview date 11 July 1993)
   2. Richard Hornby (review date Autumn 1993)
   3. Jan Stuart (review date 24 March 1994)
   4. Michael Feingold (review date 5 April 1994)
   5. Robert Brustein (review date 2 May 1994)
   6. Sean Mitchell (review date 12 June 1994)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright