Saturday Matinee

The Berkeley Repertory Theatre has lined up a special series of plays this year for its 40th anniversary season. I’ve never seen a play with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, but heard really good things about last year (especially The Pillowman). With my recent viewings of very very good plays on Broadway (beginning with Awake and Sing! starring Mark Ruffalo and Lauren Ambrose, and my experiences with Journey’s End, Coram Boy, History Boys, and Doubt), which is a relatively new area of theater for me, I’m excited to go experience theater in Berkeley for the first time this year.

The series of plays this year is as follows:

• Heartbreak House: by George Bernard Shaw
• After the Quake: by Haruki Murakami
• Argonautika: conceived and directed by Mary Zimmerman
• Wishful Drinking: one woman show by Carrie Fisher (yes, that Carrie Fisher, the actor)
• Figaro: inspired by Mozart and Beaumarchais
• and a new play: by Danny Hoch
• Tragedy: a tragedy: written by Will Eno

Some must sees for me include Argonautika and Figaro. Argonautika - admittedly, mostly because I know Justin Blanchard, from Journey’s End, is going to be in it. An exceptional actor, it’ll be great to see what he can do in this play. Figaro looks intriguing as well, mostly due to its marriage of the music of Mozart, and the fact that it’s a play. It sounds a bit like Coram Boy, which married the music of Handel and the realm of plays really well (Handel even made an appearance in the play). There is also nothing like a Mozart opera, which are my favorite operas, with gentle lush music that never fails to touch me deeply. I’m very excited for this one.

The Murakami piece and Hearbreak House look really interesting as well.

More information here. Subscriptions are available now, which can be made with 3 or more plays. Individual ticket sales go on sale on August 19.

Edited to add: As a subscriber, if you’re Under 30, they have half price discounts, and you can subscribe for as little as $42 for three plays! Think of it as the same price as seeing three or four movies. Click the link above or call for more information.