The Shakespeare Theater's current offering, "The Dog in the Manger," may be the funniest play you've never seen by a playwright you've never heard of. Written by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who claims to have written 1500 plays (hmmm, really?), "Dog" looks at the role honor played in society, particularly when it came to love between people from different social classes. In this story Diana, the Countess of Belflor, finds herself drawn to her secretary, Teodoro, whenever she discovers Teodoro romancing her lady-in-waiting, Marcela. Compared to the two wealthy aristocratic fools wooing her, Teodoro is indeed a catch. But Diana can't let herself fall for a commoner . . . or can she? The acting is wonderful all around, but I have to mention David Turner as Tristan, Teodoro's servant. Built like Dana Carvey, and with similar gifts of mimickry, Turner shines every time his misguided but clever Tristan is onstage. It was one of the funniest performances I've seen on stage in several years. As directed by Jonathan Munby of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the action clips along, especially in the second act when Tristan's scheming pays off. Enjoy it now. At the Lansburgh Theatre until March 29. (Tip - check Ticketplace for discount tickets - they had them for this week.)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Great fun at the Lansburgh
The Shakespeare Theater's current offering, "The Dog in the Manger," may be the funniest play you've never seen by a playwright you've never heard of. Written by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who claims to have written 1500 plays (hmmm, really?), "Dog" looks at the role honor played in society, particularly when it came to love between people from different social classes. In this story Diana, the Countess of Belflor, finds herself drawn to her secretary, Teodoro, whenever she discovers Teodoro romancing her lady-in-waiting, Marcela. Compared to the two wealthy aristocratic fools wooing her, Teodoro is indeed a catch. But Diana can't let herself fall for a commoner . . . or can she? The acting is wonderful all around, but I have to mention David Turner as Tristan, Teodoro's servant. Built like Dana Carvey, and with similar gifts of mimickry, Turner shines every time his misguided but clever Tristan is onstage. It was one of the funniest performances I've seen on stage in several years. As directed by Jonathan Munby of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the action clips along, especially in the second act when Tristan's scheming pays off. Enjoy it now. At the Lansburgh Theatre until March 29. (Tip - check Ticketplace for discount tickets - they had them for this week.)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Prices for the times
Today, a few words about deals, discounts, reduced fares, cheap seats. As someone who enjoys a wide range of cultural activities, I feel lucky to live in Washington where I have so many choices available. To fit my relatively modest budget, I’ve had to find creative, inexpensive ways to enjoy the arts and still pay my bills. Here are a three options I’ve found (I'll write about others in a later post):
Ticketplace (407 7th Street, NW) – sometimes mistakenly called the ‘half-price ticket booth,’ like the famous discount ticket booth in Times Square, Ticketplace sells discount tickets the day of the performance for a wide range of theaters, National Geographic, Goethe-Institut, and other venues that feature speaker
or film programs. They also sell discounted seats to some advance performances - you can even purchase some on-line at http://www.ticketplace.org. The tickets here are discounted to usually a little more than half the regular price plus a 12% service charge. The downside: you have to get there to order a lot of the tickets and you need to move quickly for the popular shows. Open Tuesday - Friday from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed on Sundays. http://www.ticketplace.org/tx_venue.asp?id=61&tgs=2157542:17958649&cart_id=Goldstar.com – sign up for this site and you’ll get a weekly e-mail summary of discounted tickets available in the city you select. You then order the tickets through their site, which also provides reviews of various events and tips about the venue, parking, and restaurants nearby. Goldstar offers tickets to theater, sporting events, classical concerts, jazz shows, workshops, walking tours, dinner cruises, and book and poetry readings. A recent example: $75.00 tickets to Les Miserables at the Signature Theater were offered for $37.50 plus a $7.50 service fee. $48.00 tickets for a Washington Wizards game were offered for $20.00 plus a $7.00 fee. The downside: the seats are usually assigned at the venue, so you won’t know exactly where you’re sitting until you get there. And these tickets can move quickly. http://www.goldstar.com/home
you name it, have been sold for years to benefit all types of charities. Use one buy-one-get-one-free ticket to the Shakespeare or Studio Theater, or have a nice dinner out, and you’ve paid for the entire book. The 2009 Washington DC/Maryland and Washington DC/Virginia books, regularly $30.00, are now on sale for $19.95. The downside: many discounts have some restrictions but this discount is so deep it might be worth seeing that play on Thursday rather than Saturday. http://www.entertainment.com/
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