Seattle Shake's "Othello" is an imperfect but solid production

Cast of Othello (John Ulman)

Othello
Seattle Shakespeare Company
Through May 17, 2015

The current production of Othello by Seattle Shakespeare Company is a combination of aspects that work excellently and some that don't quite. Director John Langs adds some beautiful atmospherics, like starting the whole production with an imagined wedding ceremony between the fair Desdemona (Hillary Clemens) and the Moor Othello (Sean Phillips). 

The presentation is 20th Century garb, but not quite up-to-date and not quite a specific time period. So, it's modern enough to include guns, of which there are none, but too modern to include swords, of which there are plenty. It might have made more sense to use short, decorative swords for dress uniforms, instead. 

"Little Bee" stings with real life drama

Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako as Little Bee (John Ulman)

Little Bee

Book-It Repertory Theatre

Through May 17

If you’re like me, you probably don’t know all that much about Nigeria and the relationship with international oil conglomerates. The attempt to control the valuable oil resources of Nigeria has created undeniable danger for residents of areas on top of oil. Book-It Repertory Theatre’s latest production is based on the fictionalized plight of one young teenager, but there is no mistaking the desire for the novel writer, Chris Cleave, to help us realize the truth of the Nigerian situation.

Little Bee is the name of the play and the name of the main character, played with heartbreaking simplicity and sagacity by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako. She begins a narration of her circumstances by first asking us to agree with her that scars are beautiful. Scars prove you’ve survived. Many of the stories Little Bee and other women have survived begin with the phrase, “And then the men came…” This is both a wonderful moment and one that portends great pain to come.

Edgy "Tilt Angel" is something different

Carter Rodriquez and Llysa Holland in Tilt Angel (Chris Bennion)

Hey, You! The one who's always complaining that Seattle theater is boring! Well, have I got a show for you: Tilt Angel by theater simple (at West of Lenin). Edgy, moody, weirdly funny, definitely not like most of the theater you see around here.

It's not easy to describe the story, but that's why you want to see it, right? It starts with a mimed plane crash that kills the mother, Lois (Llysa Holland), and we then meet the agoraphobic son left behind, Ollie (Spike Huntington-Klein) and his dad, Red (Carter Rodriquez). They don't have the best relationship.

What can I see on stage in May?

The Tall Girls is being presented by Washington Ensemble Theatre (Cassandra Bell)

It’s May, it’s May, the lovely month of May, and nary a Camelot production do we see. Here’s what is coming in May:

If unique experiences are what you want in theater, then productions from Seattle Immersive Theatre might fit the bill. Their latest offering is DUMP SITE (5/1/15-6/7/15), an interactive murder investigation set in a decrepit warehouse in SoDo that incorporates live performance, film, audience participation and a sprawling art installation spread over almost seven thousand square feet of space. Dress in layers; they'll provide the flashlights.

http://www.seattleimmersivetheatre.org/

Tilt Angel  is theater simple’s next offering (at West of Lenin 5/1-17/15). Family secrets pitch the world off-axis and a ghost transubstantiates into the garden. How else can you describe a play with music about a ghost-mom, an agoraphobic son, and a heavenly messenger with unfinished business? It opens with a plane crash.

http://theatersimple.org/

Minimal-set "Into the Woods" satisfies simply

Cast of Into the Woods (Dan Davidson)

Into the Woods

STAGEright Theatre

(at Richard Hugo House)

Through April 25, 2015

STAGEright scheduled their production of Into the Woods at an opportune time for a small theater that has difficult limitations on reaching potential audience members. Having a new movie just out might make it easier to get people interested in an original staging. And this staging, helmed by Matt Giles, is a stripped down, essentialized (is that a word?) production: magic is imaginary anyway, isn’t it?

So everything about suspending your disbelief is just stretched a bit farther than usual, but we know how to do that, don’t we? This production is worth your stretching yourself. There are several outstanding young performers in it, quite a few making their Seattle area debut! Mallory King is not new to Seattle, having performed at the 5^th Avenue and Village Theatres, but she is entrancing as Cinderella, with a terrific soprano.

April theater comin' atcha

Bunnies at Annex Theatre (Joe Iano, photo, Evelyn DeHais, design)

April theater is punctuated with the opening of Café Nordo’s permanent location in Pioneer Square (the former location of Elliott Bay Book Company) and their newest show: Don Nordo Del Midwest with tapas, and a remount of Angry Housewives after umpteen million years at ArtsWest. (Don’t know what Angry Housewives was? You obviously haven’t been here that long.)

UMO Ensemble reprises Fail Better; Beckett Moves (April 8-26) from the Beckett Festival last year. Using a giant teeter totter , ropes and pulleys, five archetypal Beckett characters tackle love, life, death and going-on in typical Beckett fashion.

http://www.acttheatre.org/Tickets/OnStage/FailBetterBeckettMovesUMO#Tickets

Café Nordo opens in the new, permanent location with Don Nordo Del Midwest, April 9-May 31. Chef Nordo Lefesczki tells his personal journey from soup to nuts and beyond. Through the eyes of the food writer who first discovered him, we meet his trusty sous-chef, Sancho, and witness the duels and dreams that helped shape Nordo into the brilliant megalomaniac he is today. Features a nine-course Midwestern Tapas menu, live original music, and a five glass wine flight of Spanish varietals specially selected by Nordo’s sommelier.

http://www.cafenordo.com/current-show_story.html