Magic & Loss; Round House Theater's "The Tempest," reviewed.

Nate Dendy, Eric Hissom, and Meagan Graves in an illusion-spiked The Tempest. (Scott Suchman)

The Vegas-birthed production of The Tempest at Round House Theatre through mid-January has plenty to recommend it: jaw-dropping stage illusions, haunting Tom Waits songs, a truly beastly Caliban performed by two actors sweating in tandem. Co-adapters Aaron Posner and Teller have had to do some clear-cutting to make room for all this good stuff, but it’s a fair trade, says I, in my Washington City Paper review.

Depth and Deprivation: "The Children" and "Love's Labor's Lost," reviewed.

I didn't write about Ella Hickson's Oil, the best play I've seen this year. But I did review Lucy Kirkwood's The Children, the second-best. I'm struck by how different two plays with ecological themes written by British women born in the 80s that premiered in 2016 can be. I also wrote about Folger's new production of the seldom-staged Shakespeare comedy, Love's Labor's Lost, and discussed it on Around Town, below.

The Rooms Where It Happened: "JQA," reviewed.

Joshua David Robinson and Jacqueline Correa in JQA.

Here's my Washington City Paper review of JQA, a new historical fiction from playwright-director Aaron Posner featuring two men and two women, all of whom play America's sixth president.

How Men Crumbled: Arena’s "Kleptocracy" and Ford’s "Twelve Angry Men," reviewed.

Christopher Geary is Vladimir Putin in Kenneth Lin’s world-premiere at Arena Stage. (C. Stanley Photography)

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something... something. In this week's Washington City Paper, I review Kleptocracy, an imperfect but intriguing Vladimir Putin origin story by Kenneth Lin at Arena Stage, starring the guy in the cast who looks the second-most Putinlike as Putin. Plus a puzzling new production of Twelve Angry Men at Ford's.

Language Bury Her: Studio's Translations and Folger's The Winter's Tale, reviewed.

British soldiers survey an Irish village circa 1830 in Translations. (Teresa Wood)

I've got reviews of two shows I enjoyed in this week's Washington City Paper: Studio Theatre second-in-command Matt Torney's confident new production of Brian Friel's 40-year-old Irish classic Translations, and Aaron Posner's The Winter's Tale over at the Folger. The former as a lot of superb performers who haven't worked a lot in Washington before. The latter has a bunch of Posner's favorite actors (and mine), but it's Michael Tisdale as the maniacal King Leontes who runs away with the show.

Reality Chekhov: Life Sucks, or the Present Ridiculous, reviewed.

Sad to the Bone: Eric Hissom and Judith Ingber as Astor and Sonia. (C. Stanley Photography)

I was excited to see Life Sucks, writer-director Aaron Posner's new variation on Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, because my love for Stupid Fucking Bird, Posner's 2013 gloss on The Seagull, was mean and true. And because I tend to like almost everything Posner does. My review is in today's Washington City Paper.

FURTHER READING: My June 2013 review of Stupid Fucking Bird. And my August 2011 review of the Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya, starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.