Twice a month, critics Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal; Elisabeth Vincentelli, contributor to The New York Times, The Village Voice, and The New Yorker; and Peter Marks of The Washington Post get together to talk about what’s going on in the American theatre.

They start this week talking all things Lear, namely the revival currently playing on Broadway starring Glenda Jackson as the embittered monarch. They talk about where the production succeeded, where it failed—and why they’re all sick of the play. They then perform a bittersweet postmortem on The Band’s Visit, which recently closed. Then they go into their mailbag to talk about playwrights getting billing above their own work, when it’s okay to read the book of a play you’re reviewing, and the origins of 3OTA.

Finally, they go around the table to talk about Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie from the Mad Ones at Ars Nova, Life Sucks by Aaron Posner, and Irish Rep’s revival of Juno and the Paycock.

Download the episode here.

Subscribe via the RSS feed, iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. This and other American Theatre podcasts are kindly sponsored by theatre, acoustics, and digital design consultancy Charcoalblue.

Have comments or requests for what the critics should talk about? Email them at threeontheaisle@gmail.com, or go to @threeontheaisle on Twitter.