R & J, IRL: Folger's "Romeo and Juliet," reviewed.

Cole Taylor and Caro Reyes Rivera as those star-cross’d young lovers. (Erika Nizborski)

You know that game where you try to think of old movies or plays where the introduction of cell phones would spoil the plot? Romeo and Juliet has always seemed like an obvious one, but Raymond O. Caldwell, director of the Folger’s season-opening update of the tragedy, begs to differ. My Washington Post review is here.

Love, American Style: Folger's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," reviewed.

The cast of Aaron Posner’s ERA-era Merry Wives dances the night away. (Cameron Whitman)

The new bellbottoms-era Merry Wives is your last chance to see Aaron Posner direct some of his (and my) favorite actors—and some welcome new faces—at the scheduled-for-renovation Folger Theater for two years. Would’ve been even groovier sans intermission, but it’s fun. Here’s my Washington City Paper review.

A Moon For the Mediocre: "Amadeus," reviewed.

The company of RIchard Clifford’s production of Amadeus for the Folger Theatre (C. Stanley Photography).

Antonio Salieri, as self-assessed in the imagination of Peter Shaffer, is mediocre. The Folger’s new production of Amadeus is quite good.

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.

Bitches Be Cray: Saint Joan and The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, reviewed.

Eric Tucker and Aundria Brown in Saint Joan (Teresa Wood)

My reviews of Bedlam's visiting production of Saint Joan at the Folger and of Spooky Action's local premiere of Carole Fréchette's The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs were in last week's Washington City Paper, but for mysterious reasons took a few extra days to surface online. Enjoy.

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.

Rome, If You Want To: Folger’s Antony and Cleopatra, reviewed.

Robbie Gay, Cody Nickell, Nigel Gore, Chris Genebach, and Anthony Michael Martinez as Roman soldiers. (Teresa Wood)

My Shakespeare professor at James Madison University, Ralph Cohen, told us Antony and Cleopatra was his favorite Shakespeare play. Robert Richmond's new production for the Folger Theatre, with Cody Nickell and Shirine Babb in the title roles, took me back to my salad days. I reviewed the show in this week's Washington City Paper. Individual issues are free but the paper is currently for sale. It's all very confusing.

Of Most Rare Note

Can a working actor get famous in one of Shakespeare's least-famous plays? In this week's Washington City Paper, available wherever finer alt-weeklies are given away gratis, I profile the hardworking and versatile titan of stage and stage Mr. Ian Merrill Peakes. He's currently appearing in the Folger Theatre's Timon of Athens, the "Hey Bulldog" of the Shakespearean canon.