I saw Greenstage's production of Titus Andronicus on Sunday night. Normally, this is Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy, but Greenstage chose to play it as a dark comedy. It's still bloody, extremely bloody, blood everywhere, spurting from severed wrists, spraying from cut throats, shooting over the stage (and some of the audience).

The first twenty minutes were very confusing. The actors spoke their lines very quickly and I had a hard time tuning in to what they were saying and what was happening. Then either they slowed down or I tuned in, but it started making sense, inasmuch as Titus Andronicus can ever make sense.

I've seen Greenstage do comedies and straight tragedies. Here they hammed it up, putting a non-traditional spin on the lines. It worked.

Three more shows coming up this weekend. And it's free!

Title: Das Barbecü

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Das Barbecü is Wagner's Ring Cycle transplanted to Texas for comic effect. We saw it at Seattle's ACT Theatre tonight. The Ring Cycle is currently playing at the Seattle Opera, who commissioned Das Barbecü in 1991.

I'm no opera buff and certainly no Wagnerian. After sitting through four hours of Tristan und Isolde years ago—Ach du lieber Gott! Mein Arsch! Meinen Ohren!—I told Emma that my limit for opera was two-and-a-half hours. I have never seen any part of the Ring Cycle and had only cursory knowledge of the story, and it detracted not one whit from my enjoyment of Das Barbecü.

Wagner might have recognized his plot, refracted through a Texan prism, but not the music. This is a musical with a country flavor, not an opera. The plot is preposterous, of course: Dallas meets D&D. Blame Wagner.

The cast—two men and three women, quick-change artists all—play a multiplicity of parts. They sing, they dance, they have great comic timing, and they brought the house to their feet.

Recommended.

I mentioned three weeks ago that I was putting together a group of people to see Greenstage's production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors at the Seward Park Amphitheater. Six of us braved the rain last night, ate our picnic, and enjoyed an hour and a half of ribald slapstick.

Almost all of the cast cross-dressed. The main male parts, the two sets of identical twin brothers, were played by women, The wife, her sister, and the courtesan were played by ugly men in the best panto dame tradition.

The play, like so many of Shakespeare's comedies, requires an endless series of confused identities, which could be cleared up in moments if only someone paused and said, “Wait a minute!”

Much running around, no subtlety, fun.

Lots of photos at Flickr.

Seattle Shakespeare are also putting on free, outdoor productions of Shakespearean plays, Taming of the Shrew and Richard III. Both end on August 2nd, before we get back from Europe. Cathy saw their white trash production Taming yesterday and raved about it today.

Greenstage continue their Shakespeare in the Park this year with performances of King John and Comedy of Errors at a number of Seattle-area parks over the summer. Emma and I enjoyed their Twelfth Night at Seward Park last year. Best of all, it's free!

The play starts at 7:00pm. Come at 5:00 and have a picnic with us near the Amphitheater. Bring food that's ready to eat—the Seward Park PCC is less than a mile away. There's some seating but you might want to bring your own chairs.

If you come even earlier, Seward Park is worth a trip in its own right. Old growth forest trails and a 2.5 mile lakefront walk.

Please RSVP to the Evite. Feel free to invite more people to join us.

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Title: The Seafarer

Author: Conor McPherson

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

We saw The Seafarer at the Seattle Rep this afternoon. Two brothers, Richard and Sharkey, share a house in north Dublin. There's little love lost between them. Richard, recently blinded, is controlling and wheedling. Sharkey is trying to stay off the gargle and it's not easy when Richard and his crony Ivan drink like fishes.

Sharkey's old rival, Nicky, arrives on Christmas Eve, bringing a stranger with him, Mr. Lockhart. They settle down to a game of poker and Sharkey privately learns that he's met the stranger once before. For Mr. Lockhart is the devil and he wants to collect the old debt that Sharkey owes him and take Sharkey's soul.

The brothers fight and fight. Like all squabbling siblings, they know how to get under each other's skin. Ivan and the brothers are wasters, whose lives have been distorted by drink, and Nicky is little better.

The play is grim in places, but it's also very funny, rich with humor between the characters and sometimes at their expense.

The cast do a creditable job of Irish accents, particularly the Harkin brothers. There's a large, apparent difference in ages between the two actors, making them somewhat improbable as brothers.

Runs until March 28th.