Archive for May, 2017

By MARK SARDELLA You needn’t be a Chekhov scholar to enjoy Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” currently on stage at Quannapowitt Playhouse in Reading. Durang’s comedy may have been inspired by Chekhov, but it is 180 degrees from the dark, despairing mood that permeates Chekhov’s plays. In fact, it’s hilarious. Wakefield […]


By MARK SARDELLA Bank robbery isn’t as easy as it looks, especially when things don’t go as planned. That’s the lesson that two brothers learn early on in John Kolvenbach’s comedy The Bank Job, currently at Gloucester Stage. Fourteen million dollars is a nice haul, but it won’t do you much good if your escape […]


Zoned out

20May17

I know some people don’t like me to write about marijuana, but the subject has been in the local news a lot lately and it’s kind of my job. So this constitutes a trigger warning for those delicate flowers of the Cannabis Community whose heads tend to explode when I write about pot. (Rest assured […]


Long before it became part of my job, I would attend practically every Town Meeting. It wasn’t out of any sense of civic duty. I’ve always found Town Meeting to be great entertainment. That has led some to suggest that I seek professional help. Last week’s two-part episode did not disappoint. If you’re one of […]


By MARK SARDELLA Wakefield Town Meeting last night overwhelmingly approved three articles intended to ban any recreational marijuana business from operating in the town of Wakefield. The measures included amendments to both the Zoning and General bylaws prohibiting recreational pot businesses in town as well as a moratorium calling for a moratorium on any pot […]