Shakespeare’s ‘problem play’ with all the modern society’s ills co-produced by Moscow’s Pushkin Theater and London’s Cheek by Jowl with Declan Donnellan directing
MEASURE FOR MEASURE by Shakespeare, Paris, 2015 / Photo: Johan Persson
Two world famous theaters combine their forces to produce a dynamic and powerful play by Shakespeare which seems to be written about our fast-paced time. Or it could well be that no matter what time it is, people and the interplay of their motives stay the same.
Shakespeare, the great master of human soul and its hidden desires, had placed the story in the space close to his, and the brilliance of Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod is in shifting it to the modern time while keeping the story intact. The amazing thing is the fresh potency of the story that explores corruption, hypocrisy, and lies of those in power and the tight strings at their disposal to turn the world around in tune with their wishes. Opened in 2013 in Moscow, Russia, this “Measure for Measure” production had already traveled around the world getting rave reviews in Spain, France, Britain, and many other countries. See for yourself how up-to-date Shakespeare was when he wrote his timeless plays.
The performance is in Russian with English subtitles; it runs for intense 100 minutes without intermission.
Measure for Measure will be performed in Washington DC, Brooklyn NY, Boston MA, Los Angeles CA.
An improbable Wagnerian Comedy created by Allan Leicht and directed by Robert Kalfin in limited production until November 3, 2018
My Parsifal Conductor / Photo credit Carol Rosegg
Musical genius Richard Wagner (Eddie Korbich) and his devoted wife Cosima (Claire Brownell) find themselves in a moral, political and musical dilemma when King Ludwig of Bavaria (Carlo Bosticco) insists that the son of a rabbi, Hermann Levi (Geoffrey Cantor), conduct the premiere of Wagner’s sacred final opera, Parsifal. In this comedic spin on real-life events, Maestro Levi must consider his complex relationship with the Wagners. Does Art have its “special needs,” after all? MY PARSIFAL CONDUCTOR is the World Premiere comedy that dares to probe that question. Read More
Uma Thurman debuts on Broadway in Beau Willimon’s play
The Parisian Woman, Limited Engagement Now on Broadway at the Hudson Theater / By Beau Willimon, Directed by Pam McKinnon, Pictured: Uma Thurman, Josh Lucas, Marton Csokas; Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2017 / Image courtesy of BONEAU/BRYAN-BROWN
Captivating performance, high pace acting, foxy intrigue – these are the characteristics that any theater production would want to hear in its regard. And “The Parisian Woman” written by Beau Willimon and directed by Pam McKinnon is scoring high on each one of them. The cast with Uma Thurman in the title role, Josh Lucas, Marton Csokas, Phillipa Soo and Blair Brown are doing an incredible job in keeping the audience in their grip. The performances at Hudson Theater will continue until March 11, 2018. Click here to book your tickets. Read More
Cherry Orchard festival presents Brodsky/Baryshnikov at Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston on January 17-21, 2018
M. Baryshnikov, photo credit Pavel Antonov / Image courtesy of Baryshnikov Productions
90 min one-man show Brodsky/Baryshnikov, directed by Alvis Hermanis, is a delicate theatrical staging of complex poetry by Josef Brodskyperformed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, a celebrated dancer and actor, and a close friend of J. Brodsky. The show is presented by the Cherry Orchard Festival with the performances at Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston, MA on January 17-21, 2018 and in Chicago, IL on February 2-4, 2018.
Josef Brodsky, 1987 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in 1940 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Russia, he started writing poetry early in his teens. His writings were gaining popularity in literary circles and caught the attention and support from a Grand Dame of the Silver Age of Poetry, Anna Akhmatova. However, Brodsky’s poetry and life style were denounced by the authorities as anti-Soviet , and in 1963 he was sent to a hard labor camp in the Far North. He was eventually expelled from Russia in 1972 and settled in the USA.
While Brodsky was forcefully thrown out of Russia for becoming a cause célèbre in demonstrating a demonic nature of the soviet regime, Baryshnikov had defected to the West when he was on tour in Canada with Mariinsky ballet in 1974. They met in New York City at a party organized by Mstislav Rostropovich, an acclaimed Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor who also left Russia in the early seventies.
M.Baryshniov, photo credit Janis Deinats / Image courtesy of Cherry Orchard Festival
The Paris Review notes Baryshnikov’s description of his first meeting with Brodsky pointing to a minute details like it was just yesterday. In Baryshnikov words “He gave me a cigarette, my hands were trembling … For me, he was a legend.” Their friendship lasted for more than two decades until Brodsky’s death in 1996.
Brodsky was more than just a friend, but a teacher and a mentor for Baryshnikov. In the FT “Poetry and Motion” article Baryshnikov refers to Brodsky as “his university”.
The first performance of Brodsky/Baryshnikov play took place in 2015 in Riga, Latvia, a birth city for both Baryshnikov and Hermanis. It was then taken on an international tour to Tel-Aviv, New York, London, reviewed here in the spring of 2017, and in 2018 to Boston and Chicago.
M. Baryshnikov and A. Hermanis, photo credit Janis Deinats / Image courtesy of Baryshnikov Productions
Although it is a one-man show, the audience gets to hear both voices. The Times of London says that there is “an eerie sense of an artistic collaboration that transcends mortality”. The depth of the verses, the grace of movements, the spare stage set bring back a sense of the passing time. And even when Hermanis describes the show as an anti-ballet, one still sees elegant moves in Baryshnikov’s ways of reading Brodsky’s verses and acting them on stage. The reading is done is Russian, so non-Russian speakers have to rely on a translation which surely misses the elegance and the poetic rhythm. Never the less its a theater to it’s highest degree that will surely be enjoyed by the theater lovers.
Boston, MA Show Dates and Tickets a discount code TICKETS3:
