A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

Hugh Bonneville (center) as Uncle Vanya with Sharon Lockwood as Grandmamon, Nancy Robinette as Nana, Melanie Field as Sonya, Tom Nelis as Alexandre, and Ito Aghayere as Yelena in Uncle Vanya at the Shakespeare Theatre. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. A message from Artistic Director Simon Godwin, who directs the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of Uncle Vanya , adapted by Conor McPherson, in the most recent edition of STC Asides , which serves as the program for the STC production, includes the fact that this is the first foray for STC into the works of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov in the almost 40 years STC has been producing classic plays. Given Chekhov’s importance in the development of modern drama, this is quite a surprise. Based on the success of the current production, I hope the DC audience will not have to wait nearly that long for another of Chekhov’s plays. (Note: This production is in association with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where it was pro...

  The cast of In the Heights at Signature Theatre. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. Joyful is the best word I could use to describe the magnificent production of In the Heights , now on stage at Arlington’s Signature Theatre. Others would include exuberant, energetic, colorful, insightful, poignant, romantic, moving, sharp, immersive, life-affirming, and optimistic, epic and intimate at the same time: I could go on and on with adjectives. Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical score and lyrics, with book by Quiara Alegr í a Hudes, In the Heights seemed to come out of nowhere (it actually went through a number of iterations) before bursting onto the scene, opening on Broadway in 2008. I knew almost nothing about it when I saw it there (on a half-price ticket), just a few days before it received 13 Tony Award nominations and there were no more discounted tickets! It won four Tonys (including Best Musical and Best Score), and started playing to full houses. It p...

  Oneika Phillips as Queen Gertrude and Sabrina Lynne Sawyer as Ophelia in Folger Theatre's world premiere of  A Room in the Castle , written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn. Co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Photo by Erika Nizborski. William Shakespeare created dozens, if not hundreds, of characters as a playwright. The fact that the great majority of them are men should probably not be a surprise due to the facts that (a) Shakespeare was a man, and (b) at the time he was writing, only men were allowed to act on stage. Oh, there are women here and there, some of them prominent, but most relegated to supporting or minor roles. And even some of the major roles for women (Lady Macbeth and Juliet, for example) are defined more by their relationships to male characters rather than to their own individual personalities and situations. There is, it seems, no “room” for the females. A Room in the Castle , a world premiere of the play by Lauren M. Gunder...

Aarian Mehrabani, Chloe Palmer, and Sam Brewer in It's a Motherf**king Pleasure  at Washington's Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Photo credit: Lucas Ibanez - Fæhn. When I saw that Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s season would include a play titled It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure , and knowing nothing about the play’s content, my first thought was, this is obviously a Woolly Mammoth kind of show. I have previously referred to their goal of producing “badass theatre.” The phrase “ripped from the headlines” comes to mind, though when this season was planned, there was no way of knowing that acknowledgement and discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion would be banned in the current presidential administration. Those three principles remain essential commitments for Woolly. Though the principles are now derisively referred to (in some circles) as “woke,” Woolly assures us all that, by programming plays like this one, embracing those values ensures that Woolly will remain at the forefront of act...

  A. J. Shively as Newland Archer and Shereen Ahmed as Countess Ellen Olenska in the Arena Stage production of  The Age of Innocence . Photo credit: Daniel Rader. The Age of Innocence , a new adaptation by Karen Zacar í as based on Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel (which made her the first woman ever to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Literature), is given an elegant production under the direction of Hana S. Sharif in the Fichandler Theatre at Arena Stage, through March 30.    A fascinating glimpse into the lives of a handful of socially-elite, “old money” New Yorkers,  The Age of Innocence  is set in the 1870s during what has become known as the “Gilded Age.” We see and learn the mores and social conventions of the aristocratic class, focusing on one particular couple who are navigating the spoken and unspoken “rules” of the upper class. Newland Archer is a well-heeled, up-and-coming aristocratic lawyer who is engaged to May Welland, a woman who has been brought up...

Below: Edward Gero and John Kani in  Kunene and the King  at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo credit: Teresa Castracane Photography. Conflict is essential to drama. Opposites clashing, particularly if both are strong, is a more interesting basis for drama than two clashing with an extreme imbalance of power: a tennis match between the number 1 seed and number 4 is likely to be more dynamic, more intriguing, more exciting than one between the #1 ranked player and #212. Most sports matches result in a win for one and loss for the other; a few allow ties. A well-fought match with a close score is always more fascinating than  a blow-out.   In  Kunene and the King , playwright/actor John Kani gives us two fascinating characters, a couple even odder than the title pair in  The Odd Couple . They are total opposites brought together by circumstances in South Africa in 2019 (when the play was initially produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company), just 25 ...