Limited Perspective

Uncle Vanya  I saw Uncle Vanya last night, produced by The Original Theatre Black Dog . It’s people sitting around in rooms, thinking their lives are over, and inflicting themselves on each other. No one’s plans work out. What’s left are broken dreams and blank plodding into a dull future ending in the grave. But it’s not all comedy! Seriously, though, if you see this show, you will understand the power of the play. Last chance is tonight. Photo courtesy of Original Theatre Black Dog. Originally published on my Facebook page on June 9, 2018

Pat Rick on Mac Beth In which I interview myself about recent local developments in Shakespeare Pat: So you saw Mac Beth at Seattle Rep recently, what did you think? Rick : Shakespeare had a habit of putting a play-within-the-play. Macbeth is not one of those. So it’s intriguing to me that the creative team at the Rep decided to use that device. In this production, the entire play – well, there are a lot of cuts – that you and I know as Macbeth is performed within Mac Beth . The idea is that seven private school girls in the present day have decided for some reason to perform the play for themselves and by themselves after school in a dreary vacant lot nearby. Pat: And how do you think that worked? Rick: It’s genius. It allows you to experience the play “updated for modern times” but also as-is, as written. Pat: What do you mean? Rick: It’s as if you were to watch Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet and a straight, full-on Elizabethan version of the play at the sam