Weekend Theatre: Jan. 29-Feb. 1
ONE WEEKEND ONLY
Five Days in March @ On the Boards. Japanese theatre group chelfitsch's Five Days in March is a funny, troubling bit of anti-theatre. Actors don't so much play characters as tell stories about them in a funny, hipster vernacular (the dialogue's in Japanese but there are English super-titles); the action unfolds over the two days before and after the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and centers around a two twenty-somethings who spend the entire period having anonymous sex in a love hotel. Tickets sold out in advance of the run, but you can call shortly before showtime to see if any seats open up at 206-217-9888. (100 W. Roy St. Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m. Tix $24.)
RECOMMENDED
murder, hope @ Annex Theatre. Becky Poole has created a brilliant little one-woman show that deals with disease, its impact on family, and superheroes. She also plays music on saws. It's flippin' awesome. (1100 E. Pike St. Fri. & Sat., 11 p.m. Tix $10/$5.)
ONE PERFORMANCE LEFT
Sunday, 2 p.m.: The Turn of the Screw @ Seattle Shakes. The other half of Seattle Shakes' counter-season, in rotation with Servant below. 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. Tix $22-$36.)
ALSO PLAYING...
The Road to Mecca @ the Rep. "[A] snoozer's a snoozer, and the first act was definitely a snoozer. Not so much the second act, featuring a phenomenally explosive performance, which is, we suppose, a way of saying to readers to just stick with it--it gets good." [Read our review.] (Thurs.-Sun. 7:30, Sat. & Sun 2; tix $15-$59.)
Blind Spot @ Annex Theatre. "There are a lot of things to love about Annex Theater's production of Blind Spot. After all, the play is nothing if not imaginative." [Read our review.] (1100 E. Pike St. Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. Tix $12/$7/$5.)
Marat/Sade @ the Balagan. "Back in 1964, when Weiss's Marat/Sade was having its English premiere (the original is German), people would storm out in anger or shake in their seats. But that day is gone--just as the Rite of Spring hasn't provoked many riots lately...it entertains and disturbs because of its dated hipness. The conceit that the shrieking Charenton lunatics are stand-ins for then-hippies almost collapses in on itself to become a pure referential loop." [Read our review.] (1117 E. Pike St. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $15/$12)
CLOSING
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.-Sun. 7:30 p.m., Sat. cabaret @ 10:30 p.m. & Sun. matinee @ 2 p.m. Tix $22-$36)
