They call them straight plays—yeah, right—or legitimate dramas to distinguish them from musicals, revues, vaudeville, burlesque and other forms of theatrical presentation such as pole dancing. Whatever—there are hundreds of them produced in Chicago every year ( out of some 1,200 total productions of all kinds ) including classics, modern plays and new works. Here's our pick of seven plays coming up in the winter months that we think are of special interest.
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Timothy Edward Kane and Elizabeth Ledo in Titus Andronicus. Marcello Magni ( left ) and Jos Houben in Fragments. Photo credit: Pascal Victor/Max ppp.
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Titus Andronicus, Court Theatre, through Feb. 10—Written by Shakespeare early in his career, and set in ancient Rome, Titus Andronicus is a blood-soaked potboiler of revenge, murder, mayhem, rape, mutilation and cannibalism. And then it gets nasty. Mostly ignored for a couple of centuries, Titus has made a comeback recently, perhaps because the world now is as vicious as the play. Court Theatre's modern setting of it should emphasize the parallels between the Mediterranean world imagined by Shakespeare and the real Mediterranean world the United States has helped fashion.
Journey's End, Griffin Theatre at Theatre Building Chicago, Jan. 29-March 9—A gripping and heartfelt drama of British officers in the trenches during World War I, this R. C. Sherriff play was produced in London in 1928 ( with a young Laurence Olivier ) and revived both in the U.K. and the U.S. just a few years ago. An Off-Loop production four years ago was a great success, but this is a new staging by a different company. The play was among the first—certainly in Britain—to emphasize the essential meaninglessness of the sacrifices made in World War I and suggest the stupidity of planning and command.
A Big Blue Nail, Victory Gardens Biograph, Jan. 25-March 2—Just in time for African-American History Month, this world premiere by the estimable Carlyle Brown examines the relationship between American Robert Peary—so-called Conqueror of the North Pole—and his Black associate Matthew Henson. Which one reached the Pole first? Truth is, as with Hillary and Tenzig, they were a team working together. But Henson's role was ignored for decades, along with many other historic African-American achievements.
Fragments, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Jan. 31-Feb. 9—Towering playwright meets towering director: several short theater texts by Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett as staged by Peter Brook, among the most influential directors of the mid-to-late 20th century and still at work at 82. This pithy production is but 65 minutes, but should be a memorable and compelling hour for all who love theater. It probably will be profound but not necessarily heavy: Beckett loved clowns and clowning and love to tricks in the theatre, as does Brook.
Underneath the Lintel, City Lit at Edgewater Presbyterian Church, March 7-30—This is the second area production in two years of Glen Berger's fascinating and brilliant one-man play, and it's well worth another look. When a mild librarian finds a book returned that's 113 years overdue, he launches a personal detective journey that takes him into the realm of legends, Biblical history and miracles as he tracks down the Wandering Jew in a dazzling synthesis of wit, history and metaphysics.
What Every Woman Knows, ShawChicago 0 sic ) at the Ruth Page Center, April 12-May 3—James S. Barrie, the Edwardian playwright most famous for Peter Pan, lends his sympathies in this 1908 social comedy to a woman who wishes to be independent and resourceful, but can only do so within the bounds of conventional marriage where she indisputably is the power behind her husband's throne. Barrie doesn't quite march in lockstep with Shaw and other progressives of the time, because his play is about a man being chastened rather than about a woman achieving her independence.
Better Late, Northlight Theatre, April 2-May 11—Based on its pedigree and cast, we take a leap of faith that this world premiere will be well worth seeing. Great favorites and skillful veterans Mike Nussbaum and John Mahoney star in this oddball love triangle, in which circumstances force a man to move in with his ex-wife and her new husband. The co-authors are Larry Gelbart ( of M*A*S*H fame ) and Craig Wright, a gifted stage and TV writer with a knack for pointed social commentary.
