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THIS WEEK: You might think that there'd be a lull in Irish-themed events immediately post St. Patrick's Day, but you'd be wrong. Solas Nua is bringing "Everything Between Us," a play about reconciliation in Northern Ireland, through Washington this week.
» Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW; Tue., March 23 through Sun., March 28, $20; 202-315-1317. (Gallery Place)
WEDNESDAY: Today is Saint Patrick's Day, in case you forgot, and its status as a Wednesday prevents you from celebrating. Probably. Hey, who knows where you work.
Anyway, you can honor the Irish more soberly with Irish Book Day, wherein volunteers stand at your Metro stop and hand you copies of Irish literature for free. For a list of the stops they'll be at, visit Solasnua.org.
THIS WEEKEND: CityDance D.C. is not going out with a whimper.
The troupe ends its season with a two-show stint at the Lansburgh Theatre, debuting Paul Taylor's "Images," premiering Paul Gordon Emerson's "Little Adorations" and offering a first look at "+1/-1," by choreographer in residence Christopher K. Morgan.
» Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW; Sat., March 13, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 14, 4 p.m.; $35-$55; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo courtesy CityDance
THURSDAY: "Nosferatu" is our favorite vampire classic — a silent film about a long-fingernailed blood sucker who's even creepier than Dracula.
The movie is often accompanied by a live orchestra, but the American Art Museum's showing Thursday is extra-special: Thad Wilson's Jazz Orchestra has put together an original score that they'll play during the screening. Don't miss it.
» Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets NW; Thurs., March 11, 6:30 p.m., free; 202-633-1000. (Gallery Place)
MONDAY: Now that you're blockbustered out post-Oscars, why not take a minute for a little foreign movie? "One Day In Europe," showing at the Goethe-Institut, is one of those four-different-stories-in-four-different-cities-show-us-how-connected-we-all-truly-are films, but not in a bad way.
» Goethe-Institut, 812 7th St. NW; Mon., March 8, 6:30 p.m., $4-$6; 202-289-1200. (Gallery Place)
THIS WEEKEND: We know you're afraid of the circus. So are we. Everybody is. But this is a different kind of circus.
"Aurelia's Oratorio" is part of the Shakespeare Theatre's Youth and Family Series — but it's the kind of show that attract adults too. The score is haunting and jazzy, the story whimsical and adventurous. If you missed the Commedia dell'arte show last weekend — shame on you! — you can get a somewhat similar fix here.
» Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW; though March 7, $20-$25; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
ONGOING: The Shakespeare Theatre knew what it was doing when it decided to produce "Richard II" and "Henry V" in repertory. We like both these plays individually, but it's together that they're truly satisfying, giving you a spectrum of history-according-to-Shakespeare from the most effective kind to the least.
» Shakespeare Theatre, 610 F St. NW; through April 10; 202- 547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post
THIS WEEKEND: Clowns don't have to be Stephen King horror villains. Commedia dell'arte, the long and storied Italian tradition of clowning, reads more like Harpo Marx. Matt Wilson stars in his self-conceived "The Great One-Man Commedia Epic," in which he plays 12 different characters. If you don't know commedia (and you should), this is an amazing introduction to it.
» Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW; through March 1, $10-$20; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Clinton Brandhagen
SHAKESPEARE'S "PROBLEM PLAYS" get produced all the time. Every young director has a way to fix "All's Well That Ends Well" or "Measure for Measure," the awkward plays with too much sex or not enough tragedy. "Richard II" is rarely lumped in with these. It's not problematic, just forgotten.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company has chosen to mount "Richard II," one of Shakespeare's saddest history plays, in repertory with "Henry V," possibly his most buoyant. "Richard" concerns the changeover of English royal power from King Richard II (Michael Hayden, in a rich and upsetting performance) to Henry Bolingbroke (Charles Borland) — soon to get his own play as Henry IV .
The production is staunchly traditional — darkly lit, with somewhat medieval costumes and somewhat British accents, a brave thing in an age when few directors mount Shakespeare plays without some accompanying gimmick. ("Much Ado About Nothing " with secret agents!)
Continue Reading "The Man Who Shouldn't Be King: Shakespeare Theatre Company's 'Richard II'" »
WHETHER HIGH SCHOOL was the best four years of your life or the worst, chances are many of us wouldn't want to relive that time. Local photographer Jennifer Dorsey sees the beauty in gymnasiums and blackboards — her photographs of empty high schools can be seen in "Alma Mater" at Flashpoint Gallery through March 27.
Dorsey visited two D.C. schools — St. Albans School and National Cathedral School, where she teaches photography — during the summers of 2007 and 2008 to snap photographs. She says that working at National Cathedral School affected her experience photographing the space.
"I found it was a little bit harder to photograph there because, at that point, I had become more familiar with it," she says. "I find that when I'm not as familiar with a place, I'm more aware of it when looking at it."
Continue Reading "Best Years of Our Lives?: Jennifer Dorsey's 'Alma Mater'" »
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