I’ve always liked theater, and even played one of the leading characters in the annual play put on by my English department in college. I was the meddling matchmaker in Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker. Of course, I cringed hardcore when I re-watched the recording of my green appearance.
While I wouldn’t mind being part of a play again, I love going to see shows more these days. Luckily, being the girlfriend of a theater reviewer gives me plenty of opportunities to observe good shows AND bad shows that could bulk up my taste range.
Here are 3 performances I really enjoyed as a reviewer’s date in Washington, D.C.
The Water Engine by Spooky Action Theater, 2012
Originally written by the celebrated American playwright David Mamet as a radio play, The Water Engine deals with a tragedy involving technology, conglomerates and small potatoes.
The Water Engine's main character Charles Lang
Set against the backdrop of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934, it follows a doomed factory worker who invented a water-powered engine fighting in vain the oil-giant-backed lawyers who tried to prevent the machine from seeing daylight.
The D.C.-based theater only puts on one show a year, and this one is clearly a winner. All the actors did a convincing job portraying the characters, including the paranoid inventor Charles Lang and the roguish attorneys. The troupe also vividly brought the behind-the-scene sound effects of an old fashioned radio show to life.
Verdict: Great production. Kudos to the small theater that cares.
Othello by Synetic Theater, 2011
I had no idea what to expect of the just-dance-and-no-talking interpretation of the popular Shakespeare tragedy. But it was just as engrossing.
Synetic Theater's gothic version of Othello
The award-winning company transformed the classic play into a sexy and gothic choreographic drama. Anger, lust and jealousy were all well delivered through pounding music, precise physical and facial expressions. I didn’t miss speaking at all.
It was also interesting to note that Iago, Othello’s manipulative opposite, was played by three dancers, who together looked like a seething serpent with three heads.
Verdict: Funky experience. I wonder if they can make Sophocles’ tragedies chic?
Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center, 2011
Some think the show, adapted from Victor Hugo’s novel, is too trite in this day and age, but I’ve always had a soft spot for classical literature.
Les Misérables: One Day More
You simply can’t judge the story through a cynical modern-day lens. I admire Jean Valjean because he represents the prototype of those tragic heroes trying to make peace with their past and get things right. I love the theme song “I Dreamed a Dream” because it shows a genuine longing of a sympathetic low-life desperately wishing to live a better life.
While this production is not the best out there, it allows me to revisit the innocence of traditional drama where main characters always have a chance to redeem themselves, despite all the suffering and guilt along the way.
Verdict: Depressing but fun. It planted a bunch of melodies in my head for several weeks.
tracycanwrite 