THEATER BIG AND SMALL

posted by James Reel

    Two—well, technically, three—theatrical productions opened here last week, and they’re both worth your while. They could hardly be more dissimilar, though. One, a Shakespeare classic, employs a huge cast and sprawls through nearly six hours spread across two nights; the other, a recent work, is concentrated into the figure of one unprepossessing man holding forth for less than an hour and a half.
    The University of Arizona is presenting Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2:

The two roles hardest for young thespians to put across are taken by actors with experience that shows, both of whom teach in the UA theater department. Kevin Black is a truly regal, centered, often mournful Henry IV, relishing his every word and investing each line with meaning. D. Lance Marsh is superb as Sir John Falstaff, the play's fat, drunk, scheming force of relatively benign disorder.

    You’ll find the rest of my Tucson Weekly review here. Meanwhile, I recommend in the strongest possible terms that you get yourself pronto to the little Beowulf Alley Theatre downtown to see Underneath the Lintel. Here’s how the play, featuring a marvelous performance by Roberto Guajardo, and my review begin:

A tattered man shambles into a shabby rented theater. He is disappointed that so few people have come for what he has advertised as an "Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences," but, undaunted, he begins. He is a librarian from the Dutch town of Hoofddorp, and he wants to tell us about an overdue book. A book returned after 113 years. Possibly by the same man who checked it out.

    Intrigued? Check it out for yourself.