If theatre is my drug, then the Stratford Festival is my dealer. Here's what they've got on the playbill for their upcoming season:
The only thing I really don't like about A Chorus Line is every time I do any work related to A Chorus Line, I immediately get the song "Tits & Ass" stuck in my head for the next several hours.
It's the play adaptation of the movie about a play! I'm looking forward to this.
Classic. Can't go wrong. Unless, you know, someone says MACBETH...
I'm going to make an effort to see this, even though I am decidedly not an Arthur Miller fan. Everyone always spends too much time being acerbically miserable for my tastes.
I love the Narnia books, so I'm always excited to see a stage adaptation of its first installment. Because MAGIC.
This season's production is set in Newfoundland. If you wanted to, you could sign up to be taught a traditional Newfoundland dance and then be invited up during the performance to dance it with the cast. I thought about it briefly, and then I remembered (a) I can't dance, and (b) even if I could dance, the thought of dancing in front of actual people is such an alien concept that my mind can't even begin to process it.
I love Sondheim. People often call Sondheim the Shakespeare of our age, which isn't really fair because, let's face it, Sondheim hasn't killed nearly as many characters as Shakespeare has. But I love Sondheim. Don't get me started. I will sing at you.
The first part of a two-part adaptation by Graham Abbey of Richard II, Henry IV part 1 & 2, and Henry V. While I love the history plays in all their lengthy and occasionally long-winded gloriousness, I'm really looking forward to this.
I mean... four history plays for the price of two! I'm hoping Abbey goes ahead and puts together Death of Kings, condensing the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III. MOAR HISTORY PLAYS PLEEZE.
..yeah, I got nothing. Pretty sure she doesn't actually turn into a giant rabbit, though. Oh well.
This will be... I think only my second time seeing Moliere on stage. I read Tartuffe in high school, but somehow haven't gotten around to seeing it, and I saw The Misanthrope at Stratford a couple years back. This one sounds like a lot of fun.
AAARRGGH IBSEN. I pretty much loathed reading A Doll's House in high school and have avoided his stuff like the plague ever since. Should probably actually see Ibsen in performance at least once before I slam that door shut, though.
OK, so this is a new, contemporary adaptation of the Aeneid, so I have no idea how accurate this is, but there should be people fleeing a thing and journeying to another thing at the very least.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, STRATFORD... oh, wait. You're already doing that.
Good Tickle Brain at the Folger Shakespeare Library!
On Friday, April 29 I will be giving a free pre-show talk at the Folger Theatre in Washington D.C., ahead of a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's performance of William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). If you're in the D.C. area, stop by and say hello! For full details, visit the Folger website.
