
Bell in Campo (Streetlight Shakespeare Ensemble) @ The Wharf Loft
December 2024
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"Not dissimilarly to last year’s staged reading of Cavendish’s The Convent of Pleasure, the male characters of this world were largely ridiculous: Anna Bigham and Cece Richardson played a series of fast-doubling caricatures of newsmen, gentlemen, and soldiers, reporting on events and setting up the comedically heightened stakes of a world devolving into civil war; and a series of gentlemen (especially Maggie Lengerich, Che Flory, and Matthias Bolon) offered sanctimonious, sententious, or downright dismissive opinions and instructions to their wives. Men, in this world, were largely ineffective and inert, full of words signifying nothing, and women were obliged to step up."
Henry VI, Part 3; Or, The Blood-Stained Rose (Streetlight Shakespeare Ensemble) @ The Wharf Studio
November 2024
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"Bolon’s Margaret was a dignified, scornful presence; her late appearance in the first scene, after Henry had already capitulated to the Yorks’ demands, was regal and icy-cold as she swept into the scene and – backed up by Shinas’s defiant Prince Edward – calmly re-instigated the war."
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"Bolon’s Clarence was petulant and defiant, but needed Richard whispering in his ear to rile him up."
Pericles (Streetlight Shakespeare Ensemble ) @ The Wharf Studio
September 2024
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"Tying all of this together was a belief in imaginative play enabling children of all ages to share something magical together, whether in the theatre or elsewhere. In perhaps the most moving image of the production, repeated twice, the Storyteller encouraged all of the assembled audience to join the cast in building the hand-boats, and then dispersing them to the winds with a shared breath as they set out on new adventures. As the audience went their separate ways, I saw some of the kids still creating the boat with their hands; a little legacy of the imaginative power that comes from playing together, coupled with a reminder that some of the most important things we share aren’t limited by material and time."
The Two Noble Kinsmen (MBU Shakespeare & Performance) @ The Blackfriars Playhouse
April 2024
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"The Schoolmaster’s control of his players mirrored, in some ways, Theseus’s unquestioned authority over his subjects, although the Schoolmaster’s people had a lot of fun (Bolon’s Countryman was quite smitten with Palamon, Raube-Wilson’s was eager to prove she was listening, Parlett’s at one point blissfully skipped around the Maypole despite the lack of a ribbon and just threw herself into the twirling)."
The Convent of Pleasure (Shakespeare & Performance) @ The Wharf Loft​
February 2024
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"Matthias Bolon’s intimacy coordination made the most of earned kisses, and the grounded joy of Lady Happy served as an incentive for the Princess’s steady coming out."
A King And No King (MBU Shakespeare & Performance Second Year Showcase) @ The Wharf Loft
February 2023
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Bardathon review blog)
"This did mean that Roselene and Bolon had a lot to carry as they were reintroduced for the exposition-heavy finale, which took place at the point of Arbaces’ lightsabre. Gobrius was made up of equal parts sass and dignity as he and Arbaces paced around one another in long circles; here, the slow pace was absolutely essential as Gobrius hinted twice at the coming revelation before finally standing to plainly say “I am your father”, a line which brought an immediate ovation and at least some of the audience leaping to their feet."
THEATRE: Puffs by Matt Cox (dir. Jeremy West for Silver Line Theatre)
September 2023
Written by Dr. Peter Kirwan (for his Come to the Pedlar review blog)
"Their partnership afforded Casterline an exceptionally good showcase for some wonderfully self-deprecating comic timing, while Bolon’s ironic undertone set up a surprisingly effective sincere redemption for Wayne, as the two learned to get out of their own way and just focus on making the best choices they could."
"Bolon is a graduate student in the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Theatre and Dance and, along with being an actor, he is writing his masters thesis focusing on the intimacy of transgender actors portraying characters who’s gender identities don’t match their own. Through his role in this production Bolon will be able to bring some of his own experience into his thesis as he will be playing a female identifying character."