At a pivotal point in Bachelorette, one character offers her take on the state of contemporary womanhood: “Age 12 is when you start to hate yourself.” It’s the closest the play ever comes to providing an origin story for the three miserable women at its center, and it manages to distill the key theme of […]
Hum
“Do u no wot the hum is?” ask the cryptic ads for Hum, which had its world premiere on Monday night at the Atlas. Having seen the play, I now know what “the hum” is. But I’m still figuring out what Hum is – and that’s a point in the play’s favor.
The Seafarer
The Seafarer – a Christmas-themed play set in Ireland – arrives in DC too late for both the Yuletide season and St. Patrick’s Day. But that’s no reason to miss it. Anyone who wants to feel some of the Christmas spirit in the middle of Spring – or get a taste of Ireland in the […]
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
There’s no better place for a story about identity than the theater. No other art form depends so much on our suspension of disbelief, and our willingness to accept that any person – given enough skill, practice, and willpower – can become someone else.
Sucker Punch
It would take an ambitious, forward-thinking theatre to capture British playwright Roy Williams’ unique blend of kitchen-sink drama and urban patois. Fortunately for all of us, the play found its way to Studio Theatre, whose sharp, well-realized production of Sucker Punch is another impressive production in an already-strong season.
Astro Boy and the God of Comics
It’s clear from minute one of Astro Boy and the God of Comics that writer and director Natsu Onoda Power is in very familiar (and very beloved) territory. Ms. Power – whose 2009 book, “God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post World War II Manga,” was the first full-length study of Tezuka […]
Really Really
If plays are judged by the sheer force of their emotional impact, Really Really – the world premiere of playwright Paul Colaizzo’s contemporary, college-set drama, now playing at Signature Theatre – is an unvarnished success. This is a play of such raw intensity that you’ll be afraid to blink for fear of missing something.
Genesis Reboot
Synetic Theater – which has spent the past decade building a reputation for the “synthesis” of its “kinetic” theatrical elements – has taken a break from its acclaimed silent Shakespeare productions to take on an even older set of stories: the Book of Genesis.
The Woman in Black
Horror is a tricky genre for both stage and screen. It relies, perhaps more than any other genre, on emotion – evoking a gut-level, sometimes primal terror that makes the viewer forget, just for a moment, that they’re in a playhouse or movie theater. “The Woman in Black,” which opens today, aims to replicate the […]
Two Gentlemen of Verona (a rock opera)
How do you solve a problem like The Two Gentlemen of Verona? This comedy, often speculated by scholars to be the first of Shakespeare’s plays, is one of his least-beloved (and least performed) works – and not without reason. The language, by Shakespearean standards, is weak. The meandering story offers numerous plot points and themes […]
Landless Mashup Festival – Family Edition
The Dark Knightmare Before Christmas and Breaking Hunger Recent years have seen the music industry taken over by “mashup artists” – DJs who meld numerous popular songs into a surprising, coherent whole. There’s a similar philosophy at work behind the second year of Landless Theatre Company’s wacky, genial Mashup Festival, which invites audiences to see some […]
Carnage
Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage takes to the screen There’s a scene late in “Carnage” in which Penelope – the type-A, upper-middle class mother played by Jodie Foster – asks “why is everything so exhausting?” This question applies just as much to “Carnage” itself. This tale of sound and fury, despite sharp direction and a […]