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Sad Boy The IrISh playwrIghT
Brendan Behan, known for his plays The Hostage and The Quare Fellow and for his memoir Borstal Boy, was a raucous, charismatic, hard-drinking Irish Republican who began to write after he got out of prison for shooting at English detectives during a public event. Even in photos, his massive personality, which seems perfectly matched to an outsize frame, pops out at you. But Danny Venezia, who plays him in the unfortunate one-man show A Broth of a Boy, currently in the black box at the Arsenal Arts Center in Watertown, is a compact fellow who wanders about the stage, usually with one hand glued to a bottle or a glass and the other stuck in his pocket or fixed to his side like a magnet. Venezia (who received good notices for a UK tour of the show) looks uncomfortable — a little less so when he bursts into one of the (far too many) Irish ballads that pepper his four monologues, but his voice is mediocre at best and he sings every tune exactly the same way. He has zero charisma and he gives the sad impression of knowing how miscast he is. Richard Smithies, who directed his own script, hasn’t given him any help. The script
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is made up mostly of stories, but Venezia’s rhythms are so odd — he takes pauses you could drive a train through — that they’re impossible to follow. A Broth of a Boy is professional only in the sense that it’s being performed in a professional theatrical space. We’re supposed to believe that Behan is talking to various unseen companions, a reporter, a bartender, and his wife, but Venezia’s focus is inconsistent and he keeps forgetting to listen to the unheard lines he’s supposed to be responding to. The four scenes are meant to take place in different pubs (three in Dublin, one in Paris), but except for the addition or removal of a tablecloth and a chair or two they all look exactly the same. I don’t mind the idea of a minimalist set, but it’s remarkably tacky. And why didn’t it occur to Smithies, who apparently arranged it (no set designer is listed in the program), to at least reposition the bar and the table from one scene to the next? Even at that the scene shifts are clumsy and long, and on press night the handful of music cues were screwed up. It’s a short evening (90 minutes, including intermission), but an embarrassing one. _S t e ve vin e be r g
A BROTH OF A BOY :: Through October 7 :: Arsenal Center for the Arts Black Box Theater, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown :: $25 :: 671.923.8487 or arsenalarts.org
66 10.05.12 :: THEPHOENIX.COm/ARTS
AT EASE › The Suffolk University Theatre Department stages this documentary theatre production about the United States military experience, conceived and directed by Suffolk professor Caitlin Langstaff with theater and veteran students. › October 5-6 › Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St, Boston › $10; $5 students, seniors, veterans › 800.440.7654 or suffolk.edu BEAT GENERATION › UMass Lowell and Merrimack Rep collaborate on the world premiere of a staged reading of Jack Kerouac’s new play. The story, which is set in the 1950s, explores the roots of American counterculture. › October 10-14 › Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell › $40-$100 › 978.454.3926 or mrt.org THE COMPANY WE KEEP › The Boston Playwrights’ Theatre stages the world premiere of Jaclyn Villano’s drama about four longtime friends who reunite after spending some time apart. Their innocent lunch date spirals out of control as secrets, transgressions, and betrayals come to light. Elena Araoz directs. › October 4-21 › Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston › $30; $25 seniors; $10 students › 866.811.4111 or bu.edu/bpt EXPATRIATE › The Theater Offensive brings Lenelle Moïse’s off-Broadway two-woman play to Boston; the story explores friendship and racial identity. Moïse and fellow performer Karla Moseley star as two best friends who move from Boston to Paris together in this theatrical fusion of dance, music, and storytelling. › October 4-6 › Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, 85 West Newton St, Boston › $10-$30 › 617.661.1600 or thetheateroffensive.org GIRLS NIGHT: THE MUSICAL › The Wilbur Theatre hosts this traveling show by Louise Roche. The story follows a group of five middle-age female friends out for a night of karaoke, bonding, and comic antics; the musical score includes pop hits like “Lady Marmalade,” “It’s Raining Men,” “Man I Feel Like a Woman,” “I Will Survive” and more. › October 4 › Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St, Boston › $47$67 › 617.248.9700 or thewilburtheatre.com HAMLET › ArtsEmerson hosts a small cast of actors from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London; each performer will essay multiple roles, under the direction of Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst. › October 9-21 › Paramount Theatre, 559 Washington St, Boston › $25-$89 › 617.824.8000 or artsemerson.org THE MAMMY DIARIES › Vincent Siders directs Valerie Stephens in her one-woman show about stereotypes, ethnicity, and combating cultural caricatures of black female caretakers. › October 4 › Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second Street, Cambridge › $20; $15 seniors, students, members › 617.577.1400 or multiculturalartscenter.org UNCLE VANYA › Diego Arciniegas stars in the Apollinaire Theatre Company staging of Anton Chekhov’s 1899 play about Russian country life at the turn of the 20th century. Kevin Fennessy co-stars as Telegin, with Kate Paulsen as Elena, Erin Eva Butcher as Sonya, and Ronald Lacey as Astrov. Danielle Fauteux Jacques directs. › October 10–November 4 › Apollinaire Theatre Company, 189 Winnisimmet St, Chelsea › $35 › 617.887.2336 or apollinairetheatre.com WAR HORSE › Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris co-direct the Broadway tour of Nick Stafford’s musical adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel. The story describes a boy whose friendship with his horse is tested by World War I, when the animal is sold to cavalry. The production incorporates lifesize horse puppets controlled by multiple actors. › October 10-21 › Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston › $25-$170 › 617.259.3400 or boston. broadway.com
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ART › Salem Theatre Company takes on Yasmina Reza’s famous comedy about a novice art collector who purchases an expensive painting. He believes
his two art-savvy friends will be impressed by the piece, but instead his acquisition triggers a huge fight between the three over what constitutes art. Eve Summer directs. › Through October 13 › Salem Theatre Company, 90 Lafayette St, Salem › $25; $20 seniors; $10 students › 978.790.8546 or salemtheatre.com A BRIGHT NEW BOISE › David J. Miller directs this tragicomedy about a father, a son, and the Rapture, written by Samuel D. Hunter. David Lutheran, Janelle Mills, Dakota Shepard, Victor Shopov, and Zach Winston star in the Zeitgeist Stage production. › Through October 20 › Black Box Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston › $20-$30 › 617.759.8836 or zeitgeiststage.com A BROTH OF A BOY › Danny Venezia stars in this one-man show about Irish playwright Brendan Behan, based on Behan’s own writings, adapted for the stage and directed by Richard Smithies. › Through October 7 › Arsenal Center for the Arts Black Box Theater, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown › $25 › 671.923.8487 or arsenalarts.org › Steve Vineberg’s review page 66 BYE BYE LIVER: THE BOSTON DRINKING PLAY › Hennessy’s hosts the Boston chapter of Bye Bye Liver, a show about drinking culture, from wine snobs to wildly fun (and occasionally terrifying) booze parties. The performance also incorporates audience interaction with social games like “Would You Rather” and “Never Have I Ever.” › Indefinitely › Hennessy’s, 25 Union St, Boston › $20 › 866.811.4111 or ByeByeLiver.com CELESTIAL CITY › New Life Fine Arts presents David MacAdam’s theatrical adaptation of John Bunyan’s famous allegory, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” interwoven with pieces of Bunyan’s own biography. David MacAdam directs the staging, for which he also wrote music and lyrics. › Through October 7 › Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts, 40 Stow St, Concord › $20; $18 students, seniors; $16 children 12 & under › 978.371.0820 or newlifefinearts.org DROP DEAD! › Gordon Ellis directs Acme Theater’s staging of a comedic murder mystery written by William Van Zandt and Jane Millmore. The show is a play-within-a-play; J. Clark Gardner stars as the egomaniacal director who demands that the show must go on, even in light of an ominous dress rehearsal at which an actor and the show’s producer are murdered. › Through October 6 › Acme Theater, 31 Summer St, Maynard › $18; $16 students, seniors › 978.823.0003 or acmetheater.com THE FAKUS – A NOIR › Centastage presents Joe Byers’s new play about trust and happenstance, set in 1957 New Jersey. Two men meet and instantly feel a friendship spark between them; shortly after, a mysterious woman shows up with $100,000 and a deal to strike with the lucky pair. Joe Antoun directs. › Through October 6 › Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston › $21.50-$29.50 › 617.536.5981 or centastage.org GOOD PEOPLE › The first act of David LindsayAbaire’s play, which opens the season at the Huntington Theatre Company, is a hard-boiled class comedy set among tough, sharp-witted, self-deprecating South Boston women struggling to keep afloat in a punishing economy. Margaret (Johanna Day), the protagonist, loses her job at a dollar store because of her chronic lateness, but it’s not her fault: she’s the single mother of a severely mentally disabled daughter (now adult). She relies on her landlady, Dottie (Nancy E. Carroll), to babysit, and Dottie doesn’t always show up on time. Margaret’s best friend Jean (Karen MacDonald) persuades her to pay a visit to an old boyfriend, Mike (Michael Laurence), a Southie kid who made good. The first act abounds in a bitter, eruptive survivalist humor, and the director, Kate Whoriskey, plays it at entertainingly high speed. Then, in act two, you pay for your pleasure. The play quickly descends into melodrama, with Mike — who, Margaret has been insisting to her Southie women friends, is “good people” — as the villain. The play’s a crowd pleaser, especially for Boston audiences, but only act one hits the