Dangereuse

Explosively beautiful ‘Hadestown’ gets down at Kennedy Center

The music steals the show, but there is much, much more to enjoy.

How to be a hero: The lesson of ‘Remember This’ at Shakespeare Theatre

David Strathairn’s spectacularly affecting performance as Jan Karski becomes not only an emotional but a moral experience.

Apropos Edgar Allan Poe: a reminiscence and a ringing listen

Growing up in Baltimore, it was impossible to avoid the story of Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849). He was conceivably our most famous resident. There was the mysterious stranger, known as the “Poe...

A tribute to Brave Spirits as it calls off Shakespeare’s histories due to COVID

There are certain theater experiences that you look forward to with extraordinary excitement. Brave Spirits Theatre’s Shakespeare’s Histories 2020 was one of them. To their credit, Brave Spirits,...

Five great films about theater (to help you survive staying home)

Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) the playwright’s wife: A part in a play. You’d do all that for a part in a play? Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) conniving actress: I’d do much more for a part that good....

Top five theater ghosts…before ‘The Woman in Black’ arrived at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Woman in Black, the long-playing London ghost story now perturbing a Shakespeare Theatre Company stage, reminds us that spine-chilling horror can be the most delightful of sensations. To put us in...

Dangereuse: An interview with Nigel Rowe, a cabaret star as Ariel in IN Series’ ‘Stormy Weather’

IN Series’ Stormy Weather, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, features the music of Billie Holiday and a stunning cabaret performance by Nigel Rowe as Ariel. In the new Sybil Williams play,...

Dangereuse: Brecht and the History Behind ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) left Berlin in February 1933, the day after the Reichstag fire, an attack on the home of the German Parliament. President Paul von Hindenberg had named Hitler Chancellor on...

Dangereuse: The Women of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s ‘Richard the Third’

An embittered wife. A “painted queen.” A virago who curses all who have crossed her. At first glance, the women of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard the Third would not seem to be particularly...

Dangereuse: The “Wow” Effect: Free-for-All ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

First-rate Shakespeare for free is one of the most valuable gifts the Shakespeare Theatre offers the DC community. The two-week run of Romeo and Juliet is a reprise of director Alan Paul’s acclaimed...

Dangereuse: The Two Noras: ‘Noura’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Noura, the story of a Chaldean Christian refugee from Iraq, is a magnificent production. The acting is first-rate, the technical aspects flawless, the whole experience complex and full of deep...

Dangereuse: ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company – Present Mirth Hath Present Laughter

Many consider Twelfth Night Shakespeare’s supreme achievement in comedy. It is also one of his most popular and frequently produced plays. George Bernard Shaw, who hated Shakespeare, described it as a...

Dangereuse: ‘Emilie’ by Lauren Gunderson at WSC Avant Bard

Emilie Our Contemporary Emilie du Châtelet, scientist, mathematician, lover of Voltaire, genius, is a perfect example of the power of women in the 18th century and today. Many of the challenges to...

Dangereuse: An Interview with Dorea Schmidt, Eliante in ‘The School for Lies’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

David Ives’s The School for Lies (adapted from Le Misanthrope by Molière and directed by Michael Kahn) has arrived at the Shakespeare Theatre! This charming comedy is at the Lansburgh Theatre now...

Dangereuse: Shakespeare’s Most Badass Misanthrope: ‘Timon of Athens’ at Folger Theatre

Just when Canada starts to sound like a good idea, comes Timon of Athens at the Folger Theatre, confirming once again that first-rate Shakespeare is a cure for almost anything. The show’s brilliance...

Dangereuse: Playing Gloucester Female: A Q&A With Cam Magee About Her Regendered Role in Avant Bard’s ‘King Lear’

Much of the publicity for the much-anticipated Avant Bard production of King Lear has focused on Rick Foucheux’s Lear. I recently saw Foucheux play Gloucester in a production at George Washington...

Dangereuse: ‘A Macbeth for the 21st Century’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that seeing Edmund Kean play Shakespeare was like “reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.” Acclaimed Director Liesl Tommy brings us Shakespeare torn asunder by...

‘Alfred Jarry and Ubu: An Opening Night to Remember’

“Merdre!” This elaboration on the French word “Merde!” caused a sensation in 1896, at the premiere of Ubu Roi (King Ubu) in Paris. Half the audience was revolted, half enthusiastic. Several people...

Dangereuse: “That Burnett Woman: The Magical ‘Secret Garden’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company”

The Shakespeare Theatre’s production of The Secret Garden is like a dream in which miraculous things happen, old grudges are swept away, and children rediscover childhood. The book, a revered classic,...

Dangereuse: She Will Rock You: ‘TAME.’ at WSC Avant Bard

One of Shakespeare’s greatest gifts is the inspiration he offers to other artists. In the case of Tame., playwright Jonelle Walker has captured the essence of Shakespeare’s Kate in The Taming of the...

Dangereuse: ‘The Lovers with a Thousand Faces’: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre is a revelatory theatre experience. Director Alan Paul’s version of Romeo and Juliet has a complexity and richness that reaches deep into the meaning of the...

Dangereuse: The Joyous Art: Free For All-‘The Tempest’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Ethan McSweeny’s production makes us realize once again how profound it really is. This Tempest retains most of the cast of the original, which was...

Dangereuse: Globe Theatre’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

W.H. Auden once said ,“Shylock is the outsider because he is the only serious person in the play.” Jonathan Pryce’s Shylock is a deeply serious person, and Pryce’s magnificent portrayal of Shylock’s...

Dangereuse: Reconstructing Shylock: ‘District Merchants’ at the Folger Theatre

Freud said, “When a delusion cannot be dissipated by the facts of reality, it probably does not spring from reality.” This is the essence of prejudice. In showing us a more human side of Shylock...

‘Dangereuse’: ‘Appomattox’ at The Kennedy Center by Sophia Howes (Review #2)

In the wake of Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement, it is the perfect time for an opera which tells the truth about race in America—Appomattox. Philip Glass, the internationally acclaimed...

‘Dangereuse’ The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘The Guard’ at Ford’s Theatre

Rembrandt once said, “Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and I have tried very hard, but I can’t...

Dangereuse: An Interview With Playwright Karin Coonrod on ‘texts and beheadings/ElizabethR’ at The Folger Theatre

I asked Playwright Karin Coonrod to talk about her play texts and beheadings/ElizabethR, which ends its run this weekend at Folger Theatre. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us...

Dangereuse: ‘Texts and Beheadings/Elizabeth R: The Heart of a Lonely Queen’

“[I]f I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom,” said the legendary Elizabeth I: wit, scholar, great Queen, and poet. There is no doubt that this...

Dangereuse: ‘The Madwoman of Chaillot: An Ode to Joy in the Midst of Corruption’

WSC Avant Bard’s current production of Giraudoux’ The Madwoman of Chaillot, an entertaining tribute to the power of joy over despair, reminds us of the importance of the artist in an inevitably...