Rude Mechanicals

A fanciful and delightful ‘Cymbeline’ from Rude Mechanicals

Emphasizing the play’s fairy tale elements, Director Erin Nealer steered actors toward a wry, broadly comic style that regularly drew well-earned laughs.

Review: ‘The Country Wife’ at The Rude Mechanicals

In 1675 William Wycherley wrote The Country Wife, a bawdy comedy of manners that pushed back against an 18-year stage ban instituted by a Puritan government. With the Restoration of the English...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Aquila Theatre at George Mason University

Last night, Aquila Theatre performed a wonderful version of the classic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at George Mason University’s Center for Visual and Performing Arts. All of the actors (of whom...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Georgetown University

Last night I had the pleasure of visiting a 167-year-old drama society. Georgetown University’s Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society was established in 1852, making them the “oldest continuously running...

Interview: Playwright Andrew Watring on ‘Shakespeare is a White Supremacist,’ Opening TONIGHT at American University Rude Mechanicals

Andrew Watring, a Junior at American University, has penned Shakespeare is a White Supremacist – a new play that analyzes race in the context of classical theater. Watring’s original play is being...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at American University Rude Mechanicals

There are some who argue that the works of William Shakespeare should never be altered, but instead be treated as sacred texts, performed just as the Bard intended and left untouched for as long as...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Arden Now’

“My employer is an asshole.” Shakespeare said that. Ok, not exactly. But the Rude Mechanicals somehow fit the line seamlessly into Arden Now, their abbreviated and modified – yet still spoken in verse...

Review: ‘She Speaks’ at The Rude Mechanicals

William Shakespeare wrote memorable female characters, many of them laced within male-dominated plays. The Rude Mechanicals’ She Speaks came about when director Leanne G. Stump realized that “If you...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at McLean Community Players

Spring has sprung, the dogwoods are in full flower, and there’s a truly delicious cat-fight to be had in McLean—take my word for it. Now that the solemnities of the season have been properly observed...

Review: ‘Henry V’ at The Rude Mechanicals

With Henry V, actor Rebecca Speas marks her directorial debut with an energetic, well-choreographed production featuring an outstanding cast. After bringing their critically acclaimed production of...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Reflecting Antigone’

On my way to see Reflecting Antigone performed by The Rude Mechanicals, I got stuck in a traffic jam caused by a Black Lives Matter protest. I could not have known then, how fitting a circumstance...

Review: ‘Henry IV Parts I & II’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Over 17 years, The Rude Mechanicals, a local theater company specializing in classic works, has made its way through nearly all of Shakespeare’s enduring canon. After the current production of Henry...

Review: ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ at The Rude Mechanicals

This Rude Mechanicals’ production of one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ plays – All’s Well That Ends Well – is an example of the fact that if you have great writing and a great cast, you don’t need much...

‘Julius Caesar’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Julius Caesar seems to be always with us. High school Latin still features Caesar’s Commentaries. Once there was a Russian Tsar. Now there is an Ebola czar. Caesar appears on Pinterest, Tumblr, and...

‘Macbeth: The Instruments of Darkness’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Macbeth, a classic Shakespearean tale of one man’s quest for Scotland’s reign and the lengths he is willing to go for it, is often performed melodramatically with flawed characters that passionately...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: “Master Harold”…And the Boys

The Rude Mechanicals of Virginia present “Master Harold”… and the Boys, a play by Athol Fugard. It’s a piece of theater that lends itself to subtle choices in order to express complex ideas...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Macbeth: The Instruments of Darkness’

When it comes to Fringe, Shakespeare is an ace in the hole. Audiences find it familiar, but they also expect more in the bargain. Rude Mechanicals’ production of Macbeth: Instruments of Darkness is a...

Capital Fringe 2014 Preview: ‘The Matty Matthews Foundation’ by John McGrath

Matty Matthews Wants Young People to Learn His Cash’n Carry Politics The Matty Matthews Foundation is allegorical, historical, funny, and disturbing. Before Citizens United, before the Koch Brothers,...

‘The Eccentricities of a Nightingale’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Even the most knowledgeable theatre fan would be forgiven for not being familiar with Tennessee Williams’ lesser-known play The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Unlike other works from the legendary...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Pericles vs. Wilkins’ by Jessica Vaughan

Pericles is not performed very often and local company The Rude Mechanicals from Laurel, MD offers a reason why in this shortened, but, they insist, unedited version of this...

Coming to The Capital Fringe Festival: ‘Pericles: Shakespeare vs. Wilkins’ by Joshua Engel

ELIZABETHAN PLAYWRIGHTS DUKE IT OUT IN PERICLES: SHAKESPEARE VS WILKINS The Rude Mechanicals have a fondness for Shakespeare, but you can only put on Hamlet and Midsummer so many times before you...