What live theatre did you see recently?

[David Ayers]

Don't think we've got a thread on this. Anyways...just speeding away from seeing Anthony Sher as Falstaff in Henry IV part one in London. Big concert goer here but live theatre a bit patchier for me.

Anyone else lured by the sight of boards being trodden?

[Rooster_Ties]

Last live theatre production I saw was Evita at The Kennedy Center here in DC in October. Fond memories of seeing it as a kid when it first toured, circa 1980 (when I was 11 or 12).

[Leeway]

I love live theatre, especially Shakespeare productions, as well as plays like The Revenger's Tragedy and The Dutchess of Malfi. In fact, saw a production of the latter during the 2014 Fringe Festival, which is an avant theatre festival held in DC every year. Another play from the Festival which impressed me was based on a story by Kafka, "Report to an Academy." As the playbill describes it, "An ape, Red Peter, evolves to behave like a human and presents the vile details of his captivity to a scientific academy." Sounds odd, and it is, but it turned out to be an enormously affecting work of theater. Over the last couple of years, have also seen plays by Stoppard and Pirandello, and a Bradbury adaptation. So yes, very much enjoy stage.

[BFrank]

Last month I saw "It's Only A Play" on B'way with Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, F Murray Abraham, etc.

Nothing heavy, for sure - but entertaining.

[ghost of miles]

The Crucible, about a year ago in Indianapolis.

[ejp626]

Far too many to go through. A major factor in the move to Toronto from Vancouver was the theatre scene here (slightly behind Chicago but not by too much). In Nov. I saw Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. Then a new play at Tarragon called Sextet. Then a storefront theatre* tackling Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All very good.

I generally go to live theatre twice a month, though this summer it will be much higher than that, as I am already booking tickets for shows at the Shaw and Stratford Festivals.

* Actually, this same group has come up with a once a month cold reading session, and I submitted an extract from a play I am working on, so I may get to see them perform my piece. That would be very exciting.

[BFrank]

Saw "Electra" with Kristin Scott Thomas at the Old Vic on London a couple of months ago. Interesting play, and her performance was very intense. It helped that it's a small theatre, and that it was adapted to an "in-the-round" configuration.

Added bonus: Ralph Feinnes was sitting a couple of rows away from us.

[Jazzmoose]

I saw the Georgia Southern production of Macbeth in 1974...

[ejp626]

I saw two plays today at 2 pm and 8 pm. I haven't doubled up like that in a while (probably two summers ago at Stratford). Anyway, at 2 was The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney, which is this somewhat kaleidoscopic view of different generations coming together around a dining room table, with the time shifting back and forth. It's amusing/interesting, though there isn't what you would call a narrative through-line.

And I am just back from this one-man show called The Object Lesson. It's very hard to describe, particularly without spoiling anything, but it basically is about how we imbue certain objects from our past with a great deal of meaning, though other things are just tossed out left and right. It wasn't really what I expected (more absurdist, less "serious") but it was very entertaining.

I have a few other shows coming up, with the one I am most excited about is Angela Lansberry in Blithe Spirit in about a week and a half.

[ejp626]

I have a few other shows coming up, with the one I am most excited about is Angela Lansberry in Blithe Spirit in about a week and a half.

Oops - Angela Lansbury. She really was quite good. It turns out Simon Jones (of Hitchhiker's Guide fame) is also in the cast, though his role is a minor one. I'd say of the cast members not named Lansbury, the woman playing Elvira (the first wife) is the strongest. The play is a fun romp, never too serious. This is apparently going to be Lansbury's last tour (she is 89 after all!), so if you want to see her, it will have to be mid-March at the National Theatre in DC.

I'm just back from seeing an adaptation of Master's Spoon River Anthology. I'd guess they covered 20-30 of the epitaphs, so only a small slice, but it gives you a pretty good sense of the work. They actually turned quite a few of the poems into songs, some melancholy, some upbeat. It was well done, though I do prefer a bit more of a coherent through-line in a play.

I'm going to see the same company do Of Human Bondage in May, so I guess I should read that first (it's longer than I recalled!).

Also, I'm trying to sneak in a performance of Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding.

[ejp626]

I have seen a lot of plays this summer, many of them by Shakespeare.  I also participated in a 24-hour play-writing festival/competition/marathon what-have-you.  That was definitely different.  After 6 hours in, you start to get a little weary and wonder why the characters just don't come to life and carry on by themselves, like most authors will tell you happens...

Anyway, the prize for the longest play goes not to Shakespeare, but to Tony Kushner, whose play The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide To Capitalism And Socialism With A Key To The Scriptures is playing at the Shaw Festival (through early Oct. for folks in Michigan or New York who want to make the trek out).  It's not as good as Angels in America, but it is still an impressive play (just under 4 hours) and worth checking out.

[Larry Kart]

"The Importance of Being Earnest" in London with David Suchet as Lady Bracknell. They played it as farce, with lots of mugging and broad physical business, which was unfortunate, but the last act pretty much brought home the bacon, thanks to Oscar Wilde.

[danasgoodstuff]

I recently saw Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan in Saskatoon - set in the 1940s and performed in the round and good.  And the preview night at the Fringe and The inventor of All Things about some obscure Hungarian Physicist also at the Fringe, my Bren' saw a bunch more of those Fringey things

[Chuck Nessa]

Fox News, MSNBC and the rest daily.

[ejp626]

I just saw Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, which I had never seen before.  I rank it slightly below Earnest, but only slightly.  I was quite surprised at how many famous lines are from that play.

I'll probably see King Lear next Sunday. 

On a slightly related note, I entered the Toronto Fringe lottery and will find out tomorrow if I am one of the lucky winners, which will be exciting and terrifying at the same time.

[ejp626]

I didn't make it in the Fringe lottery, but I did have a piece in a local cold reading series and have submitted several more.

I'm just back from a very effective play called Instructions (to Any Future Socialist Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas) by Michael Mackenzie.  The best way to describe it is watching a hedge fund manager circa 2008 brought to his knees (literally).  So it is rewarding in that respect.  Mackenzie knows how to draw on Greek tragedy, but I've probably already said too much.

I also saw Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, which I've been intending to see for a long time.  The production was incredible.

 

[ejp626]

I saw 3 plays this week.  A solid production of Harold Pinter's Old Times, and a very good production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars.  This is actually the Abbey Theatre Company on an North American tour, and they have a few weeks left of the tour, though it is mostly in college towns and not major cities (Toronto being the main exception). 

Last night I saw a middling production of Wallace Shawn's Aunt Dan and Lemon.  I knew it was a "challenging" play.  I didn't realize it had so many gaping structural holes that completely undermined the thrust of Shawn's arguments.  I honestly don't know why anyone thinks this is a prize-worthy play (it won an Obie).  It wasn't worth my time, at least.

 

[ejp626]

Just saw a very powerful production of Fugard's Master Harold and the Boys.  This play is of course not nearly as topical since the demise of apartheid, but there is still plenty of privilege in the world and helping people think about how power/privilege is perpetuated is still relevant.

[ejp626]

I managed to see Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire two months ago.  The restrictions were just starting to come in, and so there were many seats left empty (and this was a relatively small community theatre).  That will probably be it for the immediate future, as pretty much all the summer Fringe festivals are over and Stratford just announced they are cancelling their entire season, which is a huge blow.

There are some Zoom readings going on, and I'm actually working with some actors I know to do a Zoom reading of some of my short plays, but it's certainly not the same...