Even wordy script can’t keep 2 singing brothers down

Kennedy's an engineer by trade, and his performance explores geometry and physics in visually fascinating ways, but his simple effects are often as delightful as his trickier ones. In a move he has adapted from Michael Moschen, the juggler recipent of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," he spins two, then three, then four silver Zen meditation balls in his palms, and with each addition appears to have added another hand.

The ensuing hour sees Kennedy maneuver hanging pendulums, metal rods, wooden sticks, billiard table triangles, stainless-steel Ikea mixing bowls, and a large plastic cone with Kennedy and a half-dozen whirling white balls inside (a video of this trick was a YouTube sensation).

It would be great to see Kennedy incorporate more formally the percussive elements of his juggling (and ditch the Cirque du Soleil-style music) and add some creative lighting. Some bits are better rehearsed than others, but one thing's for sure: They're pretty darn innovative.

   - Wendy Rosenfield

Waiting for the Ship From Delos: The Last Days of Socrates. Steve Hatzai creates a drama about the last month of Socrates' life by inventing a Socratic dialogue. And Iron Age Theatre has found a perfect venue for this intellectually satisfying play: a creamy, high-ceilinged room with Corinthian columns in the American Philosophical Society.

We start by watching the trial, in which Socrates (Bob Weick) displays not only his irrefutable logic but also his refusal to save his life at the cost of his principles. The house lights are up, and we are the citizens of Athens, just as we are the extended jury when we sit in front of the television watching a courtroom drama. (Imagine James Spader buttoning his toga as he makes one of his blindingly articulate and impassioned arguments on Boston Legal.) The issues are relevant enough: freedom of thought and civic responsibility.

Socrates will be, as we already know, condemned. Then comes the long wait for the cup of hemlock - the execution cannot take place until the ship returns from Delos. (With Beckettian theatricality, Hatzai makes us wait for a ship that will not return until after the play is over.)

Socrates continues his "crime" of teaching the youth of Athens. Lyntos (David Corenswet), the sweet, intelligent son of the warden who brings his food each morning, provides Socrates with his last student - and we are taught as well: "Maybe the questions are the answers."

What a pleasure to see a Fringe show that takes serious ideas seriously.

   - Toby Zinman