For its 28th season, Washington Stage Guild presents “The Season of Dreams”, “four plays that examine the need to see beyond the mundane in order to create, to survive, to develop, to live.” The plays are by American playwright Steven Deitz, Londoner Simon Gray, Ingvar Ambjørnsen from Norway, and George Bernard Shaw.
The Elder Statesman
For all the imposing bang of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s blasts of modern poetry (The Wasteland, Four Quartets), his “drawing-room” plays, while also flush with important, complex ideas, tend to the whimper. This is true of Eliot’s last, the rarely performed The Elder Statesman, an autumnal rumination on one’s life lived, currently at Washington Stage Guild.
Dante’s Inferno
Hell hath no water break for Bill Largess, whose one-man Dante’s Inferno sears through Dante’s underworld in 90 minutes. Exercising a mnemonic that would impress Homer, Largess escorts audiences through literature’s most hallowed vision of hell. He hits the highlights, and a delightfully gruesome sound design complements his reverent recitation.
Tryst extended to February 10th
The critics have fallen hard for Tryst, and it seems audiences agree. Washington Stage Guild just announced that the smart, suspenseful drama, starring Felipe Cabenzas and Emily Townley, originally scheduled to close January 27th, has been given a 2 week extension, and will now run through February 10, 2013 at their Undercroft Theatre. Details and tickets
Tryst
Tryst is a story of lies, theft, and the death of dreams, which is to say it is the story of ordinary life. George Love (Felipe Cabezas), or whatever he called himself, made his living during the salad days of the last century by pretending to love unhappy, unattached young ladies and by so doing […]
Pygmalion
For those who have come to know the irascible George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion chiefly from the Cinderella romances of subsequent iterations, there are many recognizable commonalities to feel comfort with in the excellent production underway from those dedicated Shavians at Washington Stage Guild.
Favorite contemporary plays from the 2011-2012 season
It’s time once again for my annual tribute to new plays and playwrights . These are the relatively recent original plays which made their area debut in the DC area during the 2011-2012 theatre season. Each of these plays brought me joy as an audience member and envy as an occasional writer.
Wives & Wits
Two one acts by Shaw at Washington Stage Guild open with the master playwright’s own words, not about romantic coquetry or love and devotion, but about sex. What he’s talking about is upfront and out there, it’s scandalous sex, which he explores to the max in the first adorable of two one acts presented.
Husbands & Lovers
Playing Molnár, the Hungarian playwright born in Budapest, is a little like snowboarding. You have to ride the dialogue well forward and stay dangerously fast and loose to get plenty of air and lift off.
Amelia gets a 2 week extension
Amelia, A Story of Abiding Love, the two actor Civil War drama by Alex Webb enjoying a critically acclaimed run at Washington Stage Guild, has added 8 performances, and will now close February 12, 2012.
Amelia
This simply presented production exemplifies the astonishing power of theatre to unexpectedly grab your heart and carry you off into an adventure of the soul. It was an unexpectedly warm day in January, and I, for one, wanted to romp outside. But I knew what Washington Stage Guild is capable of, and so made my dutiful […]
Wilder Sins
If your last name is an adjective, people are bound to have some fun on your behalf. For Thornton Wilder, at least, the puns are well-earned. Two of his best known plays — the quiet confidences of Our Town and the rambunctious time-warp that is The Skin Of Our Teeth — are wilder works indeed, […]