Reviews

Turn of the Screw

Linda Slade plays the lead role of The Governess in The Turn of The Screw - opposite Eric Davis for 'Stageworks Theatre Company in Tampa Florida. Transferred to The New End Theatre in London. Also had sold out performances at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, UK.

News and media reviews of Linda Slade's stage performances

“Since there are only a handful of top actors in the Tampa Bay area, it’s a great pleasure to discover an unknown talent. Her name is Linda Slade, she’s a Brit educated at Cambridge, and she’s currently appearing as the Governess in the Stageworks production of The Turn of the Screw. “Appearing,” though, is an understatement. More precisely, she’s currently acting up a storm along with Eric Davis, another fine thespian, and reminding us that it’s possible to love a production as much for its performers as for its script.

Slade’s talents are manifold. When she describes the ghostly apparitions so pivotal to Henry James’ story (adapted for the theater by Jeffrey Hatcher), she does so with such precise, rapt horror, we can almost see them ourselves. In her relations with her two young charges, Flora and Miles, she helps us to understand that this Governess is not only a prim maiden of the 19th century, but also a needy and aggressive woman, possibly unbalanced from too much isolation. And, far from coming across as a mere abstraction in a tale famous for its ambiguities, Slade brings us the Governess as a creature of flesh and blood, to be admired, pitied or despised, but never to be discounted. This is wonderful, multidimensional acting of a kind we’ve been missing too long on area stages.

But the real story here is acting: some of the best that I’ve seen ever on a local stage.”
Mark E. Leib
Weekly Planet Tampa
“Slade’s obligation is subtler but just as demanding. When we meet her she’s an awestruck, lovestruck girl. Gradually she becomes a woman who confronts unnatural and supernatural horrors with a mix of confidence” and terror.
Marty Clear
Bradenton Herald
“Slade’s talents are manifold;”
London Time Out
“Slade provides the correct amount of unhinged nerves and fortitude for her character’s sexual repression”
Joanne Milani
The Tampa Tribune

Medea

A new adaptation of the Greek Play 'Medea.' by Kenneth McLeish and Frederick Raphael: Linda Slade plays the lead opposite Geoff Minogue (Jason) in Dublin at The City Arts Theatre: Directed by Emer Halpenny for Caliope Productions.

“Linda Slade is Medea, making her first appearance in Ireland, and she is riveting: siuous, tortured, vengeful and venomous, with a strength born of hate: a depiction of demented, helpless cruelty in icy brush strokes.”
Emer O'Kelly
Sunday Independent
“Linda Slade brings dignity to the tortured Medea”
Mary Carr
Evening Herald
“Linda Slade carries the central role of Medea in a crafted and electrifying performance; “
Irish Times

Otherwise Engaged

Linda Slade plays Beth opposite Stephen Johnson in Banyan Theatre Company's production of 'Otherwise Engaged.' Performed at The Asolo Theatre' in Sarasota, Florida. Directed by Brad Moody.

“Linda Slade rounds out this stunning cast as Simon’s wife, Beth, who has a few shocking revelations of her own. Slade and Johnson play the final scene with such beautiful shadings of pain and affection and loss and hope that it’s hard to hang on to our own equilibrium. Slade is very moving in her vulnerability and Johnson’s journey from total control to a deeply flawed human being is masterful acting of the first order”.
Bradenton Herald
“Linda Slade has grace and charm as Simon’s wife….”
Jay Handelman
Herald Tribune

A Picasso

Linda Slade plays Miss Fischer in 'A Picasso' opposite Petrus Antonious in Stagework's Production of 'A Picasso' at The Gorilla Theatre Tampa, Florida. Directed by Anna Brennon.

“Slade, too, is terrific as the outwardly efficient but inwardly desperate Miss Fischer. Her façade is eggshell-fragile, while the emotional guts are worthy of sympathy, but thankfully, not gooey with sentimentality. She is wholly believable as a woman at odds with who she was and who she is no forced to be. Slade gives a nuanced performance the enhances her character’s complexity.”
Kathy L. Greenberg
Tribune Correspondent

Tryptych

Linda Slade plays Clarissa opposite actress Susan Clark in 'Tryptych' by Edna O Brien. The Nomad Theatre Company at The Matrix Theatre In Los Angeles. Directed by Robin Gammil.

“Slade delivers all the subtleties of a vain, willful, vulnerable “other woman.”
LA Weekly
“Slade’s portrayal of the mistress is top notch: a subtle mixture of sarcasm and vulnerability the perfect match for Susan Clark…. “
LA Times