Seattle Shakespeare Company
March 19-Apr. 13, 2014
Directed by Victor Pappas
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Oscar Wilde’s outlandish masterpiece is one of the cleverest comedies in the English language. Dapper Jack Worthing and Algernon, his compatriot in cavorting, have fallen for two ladies who have their hearts set on marrying a man named Ernest. In order to pursue the romance, both men concoct an elaborate deception which leads to an even more outlandish surprise when the formidable Lady Bracknell starts sleuthing about for the far-fetched truth.
Syracuse Shakespeare Festival
April 4 – April 14, 2014
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Our second plunge into 17th century French comedy gives us even more laughs than last year’s Molierean tickler. It’s another comedy by a French icon, The Suitors, by Jean Racine, Judith Harris directing; one of the most hilarious French plays ever written, Racine’s only comedy (1688), tells of a judge named Nigaud who has lost his mind from overwork but is still possessed with the desire to go to court and try cases day and night. After a brief intermission the second half of this double bill gives you, Commedia dell’Arte, Lynn Barbato directing; the roots of improvisation date back to 16th century Italy where “stock” character types mocked social conventions and they’ll be mocking unconventionally for your laughter and delight.
Seattle Shakespeare Company
Apr. 24-May 11, 2014
Directed by Sheila Daniels
Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center
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The ultimate family drama matched by intense political intrigue, King Lear traces an aging monarch’s descent into madness. Weary of his royal duties, King Lear elects to distribute his lands among his three daughters. But sweet falsities and hubris blind Lear to the true motives of those around him, scorching king and kingdom to ashes with consequences that unearth the worst and best in human nature.
THE KILLER – Theater For A New Audience, Brooklyn, NC
By Eugène Ionesco
Newly Translated: Michael Feingold
Direction: Darko Tresnjak
Featuring Michael Shannon
May 17-June 29, 2014
[button url=”http://www.tfana.org/tickets” target=”blank”]Buy Tickets[/button]A searing and darkly funny parable about violence and resistance, Ionesco’s The Killer premiered in Paris in 1959 and has become a modern classic of the Theatre of the Absurd. Berenger, Ionesco’s cheerful, well-meaning everyman, discovers a “radiant city” near his dismal urban home, a perpetually sunny, impeccably clean place full of marvelous architecture and delicious food. The one hitch: a serial murderer has been brazenly killing people there for so long that the authorities have given up trying to catch him.
Oscar nominee (Revolutionary Road) Michael Shannon plays Berenger. Our production will bring out the humor and taut film noir aura of this work, underscoring the cinematic allure of the murders, the futile chase, the bungled investigation and the climactic confrontation with the criminal. The exquisitely simple approach will spotlight powerful, precise acting and spare, sculptural design.
Richard III
- June 3 – October 10, 2014
- Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR – Allen Elizabethan Theatre
- By William Shakespeare | Directed by James Bundy
Bad to the Bone
The king you love to hate returns. Richard III is the cunning royal reprobate so deformed in body and spirit that even his mother rues the day he was born. His path to England’s throne is murderous. He rules with a tyrant’s fist. He’s backstabbing and bloody. Yet he is so mesmerizing that we dare you to look away. Historically, Richard III may not have been such a villain, but where’s the fun in that? Shakespeare’s reworking of history is tragedy at its best—deep, rich and unapologetic.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
June 5 – October 12, 2014
Directed by Sarah Rasmussen
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Is all really fair in love?
Young Proteus only has eyes for his hometown sweetheart, Julia. But on a trip to Milan, he gets one look at the lovely Silvia . . . and dumps Julia in a heartbeat. Two problems: Silvia is his best friend’s girl, and Julia won’t be dumped that easily. Stir in some bandits, an outraged father and a bad-mannered dog, and it’s friend versus friend in a wild tale of romantic rivals. This sumptuous production of Shakespeare’s early comedy—with twists that echo in his later plays—honors and mirrors Elizabethan tradition with an all-female cast.