Visions of Diana: King Charles III and I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, reviewed.

I'm putting y'all on notice: My reviews of King Charles III—Mike Bartlett's marvelous blank verse political drama at the Shakespeare Theatre—and Studio Theatre's world premiere production of Morgan Gould's I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart are in this week's Washington City Paper.

Storm Front: Baby Screams Miracle, reviewed.

Kate Eastwood Norris and Cody Nickell pray together. (Scott Suchman/Woolly Mammoth)

On Baby Screams Miracle, a 2013 play by Clare Barron at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, directed by Woolly founder Howard Shalwitz.

When you unload into the Abyss... John Wick: Chapter 2, reviewed.

Keanu's taxi-hailing game isn't much better than yours. (Lionsgate)

Wherein I hail John Wick: Chapter 2 as the "face-shooting revenge flick Frederico Fellini never got to make." For NPR.

Period Piece: On Theatre J's The How and the Why

Valerie Leonard and Katie deBuys are evolutionary biologists in Sarah Treem's play. (Theater J)

Here's a little preview I wrote for Theater J's imminent production of The How and the Why, a play about dueling evolutionary theories regarding menstruation from The Affair showrunner Sarah Treem.  It's in today's Washington City Paper.

What Happens in Orlando Stays in Orlando: As You Like It, reviewed.

Lindsay Alexandra Carter and Antoinette Robinson as Rosalind and Celia, respectively.

As You Like It is my favorite Shakespearean comedy after Twelfth Night, but when the actor playing Orlando can't hang with the actor playing Rosalind, it prevents this pleasant diversion from being something deeper. I reviewed the Folger Theatre's production in this week's Washington City Paper.

Court Disorder: Roe, reviewed.

Sara Bruner and Jim Abele as Norma McCorvey and Flip Benham in Roe.

My review of Lisa Loomer's Roe — an "openly didactic wiki-play" that was never meant to be as timely as it is — is in this week's Washington City Paper.

This would've been a good one to discuss with the student critics I had the privilege of working with at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival last week. Usually I'm loath to summarize the plot of a play, or to foreground my own political leanings in a review. But when the plot is a history, and our politics desperate, that puts one in a bind.

Don't the Dew: xXx: Return of Xander Cage, reviewed.

No sleeves can hold him: Vin Diesel returns as Xander Cage. (Paramount/Revolution Studios)

Just because no one involved with xXx: Return of Xander Cage was ever trying to make a good movie doesn't mean it isn't a bad one. I reviewed it for NPR, for my sins.

Patriots Day Makes Three for Berg & Wahlberg, LLC

It's not as good as Zero Dark Thirty or Captain Phillips. But it's better than you'd think. Reviewed for NPR.