A Midsummer Night's Dream and Alcestis Show What Lurks in the Darkness

A A A Comments (0) By Steven Leigh Morris Thursday, Jul 18 2013

When Alcestis' time comes — a rite gorgeously staged by director Nancy Keystone — Admetus pleads with her not to die. Her response is quizzical: "Oh my God. Admetus, you wanted to live, and so I said I would die for you, and now you're not happy and you want me to live. There's nothing I can do to satisfy you."

In such lines, expressed with weary, comical annoyance, comes the insight that death isn't just about the end of life, it's an aspect that informs the quality of our life. Each time death appears, perhaps felling somebody close to us, we presume it will bind us, communally, and it does for a while, until we return to former habits and follies, which are really the shadows we can barely discern, controlling us.

Nick Santoro turns in a gorgeous cameo as sportsman Herakles — not the sharpest pencil in the box, but brave enough to seek Alcestis in the underworld and return her.

PHOTO BY ED KRIEGER

Russell Edge and Kalean Ung in Alcestis

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Boston Court Theater

960 Boston Court
Pasadena, CA 91106-1704

Category: Theaters

Region: Pasadena and vicinity

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Veterans' Administration West Los Angeles Healthcare Center

11301 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90073

Category: Community Venues

Region: West L.A.

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Keystone's staging is a kind of marvel — workshop-simple and yet elegant. The adaptation she's concocted is explicitly about the lives we lead today, but without any winking glibness. It arouses more smiles than laughs, because the company's investigation of what it means to be alive, and the shadows that impede that life, are so thoughtful and tender.

ALCESTIS | Conceived by Nancy Keystone and Critical Mass Performance Group from Euripides' play | Critical Mass Performance Group and Theatre @ Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena | Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through July 28 | (626) 683-6883 | bostoncourt.com

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM | By William Shakespeare | Presented by the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles at the Japanese Garden of the West L.A. Veterans Administration grounds, north of the Brentwood Theater | Tues.-Sun., 8 p.m.; through July 28 | (213) 481-2273 | shakespearecenter.org