If you debating which show you might go see this weekend, my strong recommendation is Ensemble Theatre’s Outside Mullingar (ETC, 5/6-24). It’s a great script by John Patrick Shanley (who wrote the award-winning play Doubt and the award-winning screenplay Moonstruck). It’s set in Ireland, so the characters are overflowing with dry wit. And the actors playing them are a quartet of the performers who Cincinnati audiences love: Joneal Joplin (Scrooge for many years at the Playhouse) is a crusty old man who might not pass the family farm on to his more sensitive son, played by Cincinnati Shakespeare’s artistic director Brian Phillips. Dale Hodges, a respected local stage veteran, plays Aiofe, the owner of an adjacent farm; Jenn Joplin (Joneal’s daughter) is Aoife’s grumpy, opinionated daughter. This is a tale of parents and children, but there’s a lovely, stumbling love story at the heart of the play, and it’s that’s emotionally satisfying. The production was staged by Ed Stern, now retired as the Cincinnati Playhouse’s artistic director. It’s onstage through May 24. Tickets: 513-421-3555.
Brian Phillips did double-duty recently rehearsing to perform inOutside Mullingar while staging Henry V at Cincy Shakes. As the title suggests, this is one of the Bard’s history plays, and it’s a chest-thumping one about warfare and England’s claim to power. The company is midway through a multi-year project to stage all of Shakespeare’s tales of the kings of England in chronological order. That might sound a tad stodgy, but this one is full of fighting and bluster, and there’s a thread of comic relief, too. Let’s call it the Shakespearean equivalent of an action movie. It’s onstage throughMay 30. Tickets: 513-381-2273.
You’ll find two plays worth seeing at the Cincinnati Playhouse this weekend. One just opened last night (I haven’t seen it yet): It’s Annie Baker’s award-winner, Circle Mirror Transformation, about some folks taking an acting class at a community center. Their lessons about performing expand to be come life lessons. It’s a warm, thoughtful play in the Shelterhouse. On the Marx mainstage, you’ll find the very funny Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, inspired by Chekhov but from the zany perspective of Christopher Durang, you don’t need any theater history to be laughing out loud as three adult siblings from a dysfunctional family try to keep their balance. Tickets: 513-421-3888.
If you’re eagerly awaiting the start of the Cincinnati Fringe (it kicks off on May 26), you should stop by Know Theatre for the American premiere of the Bane Trilogy with performances this weekend and next. It’s three monologues about a guy who shoots first and doesn’t ask questions in a one-musician film noir comic trilogy. You can experience them sequentially or out of order. Performer Joe Bone is the Guinness world record holder for the most characters portrayed by one actor in a performance; he’s accompanied musically by Ben Roe. This show has a heavy-duty buzz: People were telling me about it weeks ago, so I’m sharing the news with you — although I haven’t fit it into my schedule yet. It’s running for two more weeks. Tickets: 513-300-5669.
Rick Pender’s STAGE DOOR blog appears here every Friday. Find more theater reviews and feature stories here.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2015.
