The last of many plays I worked on with Steve Wilhite was Richard II at WSC Avant Bard (then called Washington Shakespeare Company). I played the title role; Steve played Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. After the grueling and demanding abdication scene, I would make my exit through an upstage door. A long line of […]
Happy Days
If, at times, theatre-going makes you painfully aware of the hours you spend sitting immobile in one spot, you start to have a teeny tiny inkling of how Winnie feels. The high-spirited heroine of Samuel Beckett’s play may have her head in the clouds, but the rest of her body is stuck in a deep, […]
WSC Avant Bard turns the Henry plays inside out
The newly re-named company announces casting for its Falstaff-centric comedy We all know this story…the one about Happy Hal, the Prince Who Stayed out Late. The heir to the English throne who drank, wenched, gambled and cavorted with cowards, petty thieves and whoremongers while the great monarch Henry IV fretted – and then who, miraculously, […]
This weekend – WSC’s biggest yard sale in theatre history
Come to Clark Street Playhouse this weekend, where, for three days (June 10 – 12), twenty years of Washington theater history accumulated by Washington Shakespeare Company will be for sale – at yard sale prices.
The Tennessee Continuum
Playwright Tennessee Williams wrote the truth as he saw it. By having the courage to share his own troubled personal life, he revolutionized American theater.
Night and Day
To say that Tom Stoppard has a way with concepts and words is like saying birds have a way of flying in the air, or the Beltway has a way of congesting in rush hour. He can be trusted to grasp complex ideas and relay the issues via well crafted characters without sounding (too) polemic.
Juno and the Paycock
To understand Juno and the Paycock, and the masterful production it’s getting from the Washington Shakespeare Company, imagine Laurel and Hardy in Beirut. Imagine Ralph Kramden meeting Moammar al-Gaddhafi, or Fred Flintstone at the moment the comet hits, or anything, really, by Brendan Behan. Sean O’Casey creates – and WSC delivers – an uproarious domestic […]
Let’s get Klingon
WASHINGTON SHAKESPEARE TO REPRISE THE BARD IN KLINGON FOR BBC TaH latlh heglu’meH. That is the question. In Klingon! And to answer it, acclaimed British actor Stephen Fry (“Wilde“, “Blackadder”, “Bones” to name a few and occasional guest on the BBC hit motor show Top Gear ) will perform a scene from Hamlet in Klingon […]
Mary Stuart
Few dramatic works illustrate the twisted and self-serving aspects of politics in as entertaining a fashion as Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart. Mary Stuart is an inspired choice for a time of elections and governmental transition, and it receives an inspired production from the Washington Shakespeare Company.
Richard III
Loaded with action and intrigue and bursting at the seams with an uncommonly large cast of characters, William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Richard III inspires controversy and discussion whenever and wherever it’s staged. And the Washington Shakespeare Company’s new production of the drama is no exception.
Every Young Woman’s Desire
Chilean playwright Marco Antonio de la Parra’s allegorical play about the Pinochet rule gets its English language premiere at Washington Shakespeare Company.
The Miser
A much-needed parable for our troubled economic times, with great acting, and a dynamite script, The Miser is a can’t-miss event.