REVIEWS what the critics have to say
Dallas Observer Best of Dallas 2005: Culture
Best Show for a First Date: Porn for Puritans
Dallas Observer - September 29, 2005
Porn premiered last summer at the MAC to packed houses and, ah, a less than ecstatic review from our theater critic. But tastes differ. We liked it. And we're not the only ones. Porn's running this fall at Art Centre Theatre in Plano. The show's a great one for a date, preferably a first, as was our case when we saw it. A 70-minute exploration of all that is different between men and women who have sex on their minds, Porn for Puritans is funny enough to have a man slapping his knee--and his date's. This is crucial, this accidental touch. It loosens both parties' nerves. And because the play deals with sex, viewers will inevitably talk about it afterward (the show, that is...and, well, yes, by extension, sex.) There is no better topic to discuss on a first date--particularly if it goes well.
Dallas finds a strong attraction to 'Porn'
The Dallas Morning News - July 31, 2004
A play about porn is an unlikely hit in Dallas. But this is Porn for Puritans. ...The show is a sensation. Sellouts at the 110-seat McKinney Avenue Contemporary have pushed the original two-weekend run to six weeks, through Aug. 14. There's talk of moving to a larger venue or touring – a strategy that that worked for a pair of local hits about the gulf between men and women.
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Chemistry lights fire in 'Porn for Puritans'
The Dallas Morning News - July 31, 2004
It was comedy at first sight. Leigh Tomlinson and Tim Wardell, co-creators and stars of the runaway stage hit Porn for Puritans, met as potential colleagues in a fledgling improv troupe and found themselves finishing each other's sentences – and punching each other's lines – right away. "We were on the same page comedically, and that's rare," says Mr. Wardell.
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Modern romance explored with humor in 'Porn for Puritans'
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - July 11, 2004
Both performers slip in and out of various characters with skill. Evelyn Mullins' direction keeps the pace zippy in the small space at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. ... In its best moments, the show contrasts the romantic goals and methodology of men and women. It gets no better than a matching pair of bits in which Tomlinson enacts the ultimate male fantasy and Wardell depicts the man every woman supposedly desires.
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Duo finds fun in the bedroom
'Porn for Puritans' explores the many joys and pitfalls of sex
The Dallas Morning News - July 9, 2004
Porn for Puritans sometimes feels like a sequence of short sketches – but it has less contrivance and more substance than the stuff of standard improv. As a study of modern dating mores, it most resembles the first act of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! But that more established hit, with its longer sequences and more worked-out songs, seems processed and artificial next to Porn for Puritans' franker, less-varnished take on sex and love – and sex. ... Not that Porn for Puritans has a vastly original take on its well-worn topic. We've all heard the basic premise before: Women want relationships, and men want what they can get. It's just that Ms. Tomlinson's and Mr. Wardell's perceptions are a little sharper and a whole lot funnier than most of what passes for contemporary wisdom in such matters.
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