Weekend Theatre: Jan. 15-18
Linas Phillips in "Lasagna or: How I learned to stop slipping towards the prison of permanent darkness" at On the Boards. Photo by Ben Kasulke.
RECOMMENDED
Lasagna or: How I learned to stop slipping towards the prison of permanent darkness @ On the Boards. Linas Phillips, Stranger genius award winner, iconoclastic auteur of such films as Walking to Werner and Great Speeches From a Dying World, returns to his roots in experimental theatre in this world premiere piece at OtB, running this weekend. Created in collaboration with friend and NYC theatre avant-gardist Jim Fletcher, the show features cinematic elements and off-beat humor as performers ruminate on everything from eating to sex. (100 W. Roy St. Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m. Tix $18.)
SPECIAL EVENT
In Ghostlight Theatricals' "Battle of the Bards," three ensembles present selections from modern adaptations of (or appropriation from) theatre classics and the audience votes to decide which will get produced by Ghostlight in the upcoming season. Saturday night immediately after the show, the decision is announced and there will be a party to celebrate. A unique event and an awesome opportunity for the audience to contribute to Seattle stages. (DownStage Theatre at Stone Soup, 4029 Stone Way N. Fri., 8 & 10:30 p.m., Sat. 8 p.m. Tix $10 adv., $12 DOS.)
ALSO PLAYING...
Marat/Sade @ the Balagan. Peter Weiss's mind-bending, genre-busting masterpiece Marat/Sade is a deeply disturbing meta-play influenced by both Brecht and Artaud. (1117 E. Pike St. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $15/$12)
The Servant of Two Masters @ Seattle Shakes. Not Shakespeare! Carlo Goldoni's commedia dell'arte play is re-imagined in the vaudeville tradition. [Read our review.] (Seattle Shakespeare, Center House Theatre. Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sat. & Sun., 2 p.m. Tix $22-$36)
The Turn of the Screw @ Seattle Shakes. The other half of Seattle Shakes' counter-season, in rotation with Servant above. An adaptation of Henry James' legendary novel, two actors in 90 minutes shockingly pull off the story that brought horror into the modern age. (Seattle Shakespeare, Center House Theatre. Sun.-Weds.., 7:30 p.m. Tix $22-$36)
CLOSING
14/48 Fest @ ACT Theatre. 14/48: the world's quickest theatre festival is an annual hit: 14 plays conceived, written, rehearsed and staged within 48 hours. [Read our review.] (ACT Theatre, 700 Union St. Fri. & Sat., 8 & 10:30 p.m. Tix$20 adv, $25 DOS)
(Weekday). Guardians @ Theatre Off Jackson. "By all rights, the scene should be unforgivably heavy-handed: Sitting on a chair in an empty stage, smoking a creepy sort of post-coital cigarette, the character recounts the process of learning his masochist boyfriend's fantasy, of finding the willing participants and sneaking onto the military base to act it out, while behind the actor, on a large screen, pictures from the real (or is it?) Abu Ghraib are projected. But by that point, the form has come to fit the function, and the genius of this play has won you over." [Read our review.] (Theatre Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave. S. Tues. & Weds., 8 p.m. Tix $15/$10)
