Dachs Thoughts

Tonight I saw the first play of this years season at the Woolly Mammoth Theater In the Next Room or the vibrator play. The subject matter was as racy as the title suggests, but actually dealt with love and repressed feelings in a fairly moving way. The staging all took place in one fixed scene, and it was much more basic than some of the elaborate STC productions. It started out as a seeming comedy of manners (early 20th century repressed social attitudes) but with a doctor who treated “hysteria” by applying a new-fangled electric body massager to create a “paroxysm” in his patients, and their discovery of the benefits of this new “cure”. But in the end it actually began dealing with the subjects of self-deception and lack of communication of people in an interesting way. It ended up with a moving, romantic, scene between the husband and wife discovering a passionate love in their marriage that had thus far been pretty much on the surface. I very much enjoyed the play, particularly the way it ended, and I enjoyed the theater as well.

Another example of me catching the last day of a run, I managed to see the One Man Lord of the Rings, performed by Charles Ross at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre this afternoon. It was an impressive piece of acting, somewhat humorously capturing the three films of Lord of the Rings in a little over an hour. It was actually quite impressive through the use of voices, vocalizations of the soundtrack, and body movements how he was actually able to capture the spirit of the scenes, quickly morphing from one to the next. He also periodically managed to interact with the live audience as he went along, reacting to some things that were happening. The Woolly Mammoth is a nice small theater, and I think I’ll probably sign up for next year’s season subscription.

This evening I saw my first Broadway musical, Avenue Q, at the Lansburgh Theater. So Funny. It was basically like Sesame Street, pitched at an adult audience … along with a mixture of puppets, people and monsters. It focused on the travails of 20-somethings trying to find their place in the world in the post college years. But the real charm of the show was in the very funny, and slightly naughty songs. Beginning with “What do you do with a B.A. in English?” and “It sucks to be me” to “The Internet is for porn,” many of the songs were very funny; and the over dramatization of some of them through the use of the puppet characters just made them better. The first half ended with a beautiful, poignant, song “There’s a fine, fine line (between love and a waste of time).” The second half wasn’t as strong as the first, but still it was a very enjoyable show. I’ll definitely have to see if I can borrow the CD from Andi.

Update: Saw it again tonight (8/11) with Kathy C, and it was just as good as the first time.

Tonight I saw the last play in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2009-10 season, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. It starred the well known actress Elizabeth Ashley in the title role. As I’ve come to expect from the STC productions, the acting was superb, particularly from the supporting cast. The sets also were great, particularly for the first two scenes. Those consisted of a an English cottage in the countryside, surrounded by the flowers and landscaping that was so real you wanted to go and stay there. The play itself wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I guess I thought it was going to be a comedy. There were certainly many humorous parts, but it was also counterpointed with some very poignant scenes, and it ended on a serious/sad note. Definitely another enjoyable theater experience in DC. I can’t wait till next year’s season starts.