DC theater, baby!

So, I’ve been hitting the DC theater scene pretty hard lately. Here are a few things I saw this month.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

This was a French production of the famous play, directed by John Malcovich. They were a smash in Paris and now they’re on a world tour and the only place they stopped in North America was DC, so of course I had to go. Alas, I did not get a glimpse of Mr. Malcovich, but I’m sure I’d have dorked out on him anyway. I never know what to say to famous people. (Oh, except, “Casablanca.”)

The play was performed in French with English surtitles (a screen across the top of the stage translated the dialogue.) I noticed that sometimes the translation appeared on the screen before the actor delivered the line, and I wonder if it was difficult for the actors to have the audience reacting to their lines before they had spoken them.

What really helped was that I know the dialogue from the movie Dangerous Liaisons almost completely (because of course I do), and since that film was based on this play, it was almost exactly the same. It helped to be able to concentrate more on the action of the play than the surtitle screen. The production was fantastic and I'll never be afraid to go to a surtitled play in the future.

The Last of the Haussmans

This is the third National Theater Live production I’ve seen. I didn’t like it as well as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which had the coolest stage (an electronic floor that let them transform from a bedroom to a neighborhood to a moving train to a Tube station—oh it was so cool) and nothing will ever come close to Frankenstein, but this play was really delightful.

The cast was amazing: Julie Walters (who is a national treasure), Rory Kinnear (who I would watch read the phone book), and Helen McCrory (who is lucky enough to be married to the most handsome redhead on the planet and who is, I’m pretty sure, aging backward like Benjamin Button). They were all wonderful, but I want to say this now so I can get it on the record: Taron Egerton. Remember that name. He’s something special. He just has this certain quality that shines out and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This is one of the National Shakespeare Company’s performances and it is astounding. I saw it a couple weeks ago and I was so delighted that I bought another ticket and saw it again last night. And there was a Q&A with the cast afterward that was really interesting.

It was hilarious and delightful and every good adjective. The guy playing Puck was beyond wonderful. He completely stole the show, even more than Puck usually steals it. And there was even a mud fight. Oh yes, a mud fight. 

 Clearly this was awesome.