Play (2011)
by Richard Bean
based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni
Directed by Spiro Veloudos
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Copley Square, Boston
September 6 – October 12, 2013
A British takeoff on the farcical eighteenth century commedia dell’arte masterpiece by Carlo Goldoni, The Servant of Two Masters. The plot is very similar, with a touch or two of additional Shakespearean turns. Some of the most hilarious comedy of the evening comes from deft apparent ad libbing by the astute servant (played by Neil A. Casey) interacting with the audience.
Plays
Absurd Person Singular
Play (1972)
by Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Daniel Gidron
Central Square Theater
Cambridge, MA
July 18 – August 18, 2013
A wonderfully directed and acted production of the immensely farcical, yet existential, comedy of manners by one of the contemporary British masters of the form.
Distracted
Play (2007)
by Lisa Loomer
Underground Railway Theater and
Catalyst Collaborative@MIT
Central Square Theater
Central Square
Cambridge, MA
May 9 – June 9, 2013,
A mostly comedic, frenetic treatment of attention deficit disorder, told from the perspective of a harried and fraught mother of a nine year old son who exhibits symptoms.
Rapture, Blister, Burn
Play (2012)
by Gina Gionfriddo
Huntington Theatre Company
Boston Center for the Arts
South End, Boston
May 24 – June 30, 2013
A searing comedy about lifestyle, ambition and relationship, featuring two women friends from graduate school, an aging mother, a feckless husband and a scarily insightful babysitter.
The Pirates of Penzance
Operetta (1879)
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by W. S. Gilbert
New adaptation by Sean Graney, Kevin O’Donnell
A production by The Hypocrites
American Repertory Theatre
Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA
May 10 – June 2, 2013
A infectiously rambunctious version of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, abbreviated, but still seeming full, and done with musicality and stageworthiness by a troupe wielding guitars, banjos, ukeleles, spoons, washboards, and lots of beach balls.