Zoe Wanamaker as Ranyevskaya in the Cherry Orchard from London's National Theatre. At the Lark 6/30 & 7/9.
Every young acting student has this conversation with a teacher at some point, on being assigned a Chekhov scene. You go off full of purpose, your little yellow Samuel French script in hand. The cover says “Uncle Vanya, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” Or “The Three Sisters, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” Or “The Cherry Orchard, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” You read the play, read it again to see what you missed, go back and say, “Um – I don’t get how this is a comedy.” And the answer invariably comes back: “It’s the human comedy.”
Fast forward a decade or two, maybe you’ve had your heart broken, seen your ideals collide with reality, faced foreclosure – whatever. You’ve come out with a more nuanced, less grandiose idea of your place in the universe. And presto! You get it. It’s a comedy!
Chekhov was a doctor, and he treats his characters the way a good doctor treats patients – with an unsparing eye for disorders like pomposity, hypocrisy, and our tendency to waste our lives by sitting around worrying about whether we are wasting our lives. But also with tenderness and a non-judging, all-encompassing humor.
Just look at this face.
Then there’s Oscar Wilde, for a whole different (equally unsparing) take on human foolishness. This stuff is just flat-out hilarious, and no one has to tell you why. We are very happy to bring Broadway to our screen for the first time. I’m going to let the actors speak for themselves here. I’ll only say that Brian Bedford (brilliant classical actor) plays Lady Bracknell, in what is already being called a legendary performance.
Excellent and insightful New York Times review here.
Now comes the really good stuff. Warning: off-color language. The actors, in full costume and character, performing text from Jersey Shore. Don’t say I never gave you anything.
Jersey Shore Gone Wilde part 1 ~ part 2 ~ part 3 ~ part 4 ~ part 5.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, here’s the brilliant Stephen Fry (you may know him as part of the defunct British comedy duo, Fry and Laurie – yes, Dr. House – or from a thousand other things). Click here to read his musings on Wilde and Chekhov, and for recordings of him reading Wilde’s fairy tales and Chekhov’s short stories.
"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be..."
So many sinewy themes run through Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN – given raw new life at the National Theatre in a sold-out production from Oscar-winner Danny Boyle – that it’s hard sort them out. But you’ll feel compelled to, if only to do justice to this stark, intensely creative production (NY Times review here) and to the brilliance of the 19-year-old girl who wrote the original novel.
Let’s just toss out a few…
Fathers and sons.
Scientific progress outstripping ethics, or, if you prefer, Man vs. God.
Our human fear of difference and the cruelty it breeds.
Artificial intelligence.
Real love.
The bitter and violent fruits of childhood neglect.
The perils of repression.
The limits of control.
Bioengineering.
Social engineering.
What makes a human?
What makes a monster?
And on and on. Please let me know what I’ve missed.
Oh and of course the divided self. Danny Boyle plays with this idea by casting two thoroughly talented actors as Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature – and requiring them to switch roles for every performance.
Now we have big news for those who were awe-struck by the performances when we showed Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and Johnny Lee Miller as Frankenstein. We’ve got the swap. Personally I cannot see how Mr. Miller could top Mr. Cumberbatch’s jaw-dropping turn. But critics are saying he does, and that Mr. C brings special nuance to the role of the flawed Doctor.
Cool steam punk train symbolizing man's domination of natural forces. Or the brutal thrust of progress. Or something.
And good news for those who haven’t see it at all, yet: FRANKENSTEIN rides again. April 14, 7:30. General seating, $24.
Filed under: Big Screen, Classics, Film Appreciation, Lark Odds & Ends, Musings
She was the living embodiment of beauty, of glamor – perhaps more than anything, of romantic passion. She survived lifelong stardom, scandal, addiction, a host of serious illnesses, a handful of near-death experiences. She never had sex with a man she didn’t marry, and “how many girls can say that?” When her beauty no longer made her the white-hot centrifugal center of Hollywood, she used her still-unparalleled fame to fight HIV/AIDS at a time when its sufferers were being stigmatized and ignored. She packed more life and love into her 79 years than most of us can begin to imagine.
We love you, Elizabeth.
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It’s event season again here at the Lark, and we have a lot coming up. Our Family Film Series has been a great success. Sponsored by the Sellers and Koeppel families, the series has been our way of offering an easy and affordable afternoon activity for kids and parents alike. Tix are $5 for kids under 12, $6.75 general. As a special part of the series, on 1/29 & 1/30 we’ll have Sing-along WIZARD OF OZ, with SF Opera chorus member Kathleen Bayler leading us in song (same ticket prices except adults are $10 at the door, $6.75 in advance).
Part of our NT Live series, KING LEAR comes to our screen on 2/3 and 2/5. The title role in this most dark yet transcendent of Shakespeare’s works is taken on by that most humane, most nuanced, most astonishing actor, Derek Jacobi. We are proud to be able to offer this caliber of performance, and we hope you’ll join us.
On Feb. 6 we’ll have Super Bowl XLV live onscreen – great for families who like to gather friends together but prefer to skip the clean-up or who have kids too young for the sports bar. Our Sports Onscreen events have grown in popularity. Ticket price Includes one soft drink or beer, popcorn and hot dog or pizza. Join us!
By popular demand, we’ve added a showing of FELA! on 2/10 at 7:00pm. Tony Award winner and living legend choreographer Bill T. Jones helms this amazing production, which he says is “rooted in the big questions of my life, questions like creativity, transgression, rebellion, sensuality, history, race, power. And there’s something about the man that calls out for a very poetic treatment. His life is so mythic in its scale.”
Stay tuned for more – not least, our Seventh Annual Academy Awards Party, coming up on 2/27.
- French New Wave. Understand the seismic shift in filmmaking in the early 1960s that continues to influence independent film the world over. Thurs., Oct. 7, 1 – 4pm
- Ingmar Bergman was a master of a cinema of punctured spirituality and our tenuous place in the universe. His work offers an unparalleled exploration of the nature of the human soul. Thurs., Oct 21, 1 – 4pm
- Iranian Cinema. Iran has a greater percentage of women filmmakers than practically any other country, and its industry has learned to challenge prevailing systems in ingenious and stunning ways. Thurs., Nov. 4, 1 – 4pm
Filed under: Classics, National Theatre, On Stage at the Lark, Special Events
Fall is here, and with it a fresh line-up of special events at the Lark. In September these include the first in our new series, On Stage at the Lark, and, after a great success last year, our second annual Guys Night Out screening and baccanale.
On Stage at the Lark is brought to us by producer Ellie Mednick, who created the consistently sold-out series Words & Music for Marin Theatre Company. The series runs parallel to our National Theatre transmissions from London: each evening of live performance expands on and responds to the themes of the upcoming NT Live show. So, with Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well coming October 1 & 3 – in which subterfuge is the path to bliss – we present AN EVENING WITH RICK REYNOLDS, a show that’s all about telling the truth.
Rick Reynolds is hilarious (The L.A. Times calls him “the funniest man in America”). See for yourself here: (What’s your SPQ?)
And here: (My Naked Massage)
And here: (The Prison Gig)
He’s live at the Lark for one night only, Thursday, September 17.
And then, depending on your gender, come on out or send your husband, boyfriend, brother to our second annual Guys Night Out party. All proceeds go to help us buy the live music sound system we so desperately need. The Lark is a terrific venue for an amazing array of professional musical talent, and we love hosting local schoolkids for their recitals and youth music events. But these groups have to bring their own sound equipment, which between rental fees, time spent loading in and out, and the inevitable wear and tear on our building is expensive for all concerned. So guys: Come enjoy a timeless classic, eat, drink (beer and wine included in your $40 ticket price), bid on great prizes, and reconnect with friends and neighbors at Guys Night Out, Sunday, September 20. As ever, full details on our website.
Time once again for the Lark Theater Name-That-Thing Quiz:
“It’s thin-skinned, temperamental…. Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can [it] be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet.”
Sounds like so many of us, no? Once the flush of self-recognition has cleared from your cheeks, you might remember this from Paul Giamatti’s soaring paean to Pinot in the wonderful film Sideways. Pinot sales went up 16% in the Western US when this movie came out. See it again with the haunting and thrilling flavors of locally-produced Pinot Noir still on your tongue at our Pinot Days at the Lark Theater event on 5/14. We’ll host three local producers (Ketcham Estate, Eno Wines, and Suacci Carciere), followed by a screening of Sideways. Tasting at 7:00pm, film at 8:00pm. Tickets are only $15. A fantastic date night and surely a memorable celebration of life, love and the noble grape. A co-production between the Lark Theater and Pinot Days.
Everyone and their mother will find something to enjoy during the first week of May, as we wind up to Mom’s special day. Gone With the Wind, Sing-along Mamma Mia, Joy Luck Club (a special celebration of mothers and daughters, sponsored by neighbors the Magnolia Avenue Salon and DJ’s Chinese Cuisine), a tribute to Mary Pickford (lots more on our Mary Pickford festival here), and – if she’s not one for the chick-flicks – Goodbye Solo are ALL playing during the first week of May. See our website for showtimes.
Name that icon: “… The best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history…” In the words of a film journalist during her heyday, this was Mary Pickford.
A prolific and beloved actress – and the first to make more than one million dollars a year – she was also a pioneering film producer and a co-founder (with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith) of United Artists Studios. She had a huge impact on the development of film acting and on the shape of the nascent film industry – and she got the ball rolling in terms of the celebrity culture we now love and hate so very much (she and Douglas Fairbanks – “America’s unofficial ambassadors to the world” – being the ur-Brangelina).
Fall prey to the mystique and get behind the myth of Mary Pickford in May, at our mini-festival. We start with the West Coast premiere of Nicholas Eliopoulos’s documentary Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies on Friday, 5/1. Mr. Eliopoulos will join us for a conversation after the film. Then, just when your curiosity is piqued, we’ll show the Pickford classics My Best Girl and Secrets (5/2 – 5/6, showtimes to be announced).
And while we’re contemplating great women, let us not forget the most influential of them all: Your mother! We celebrate Mother’s Day early this year with a screening of The Joy Luck Club, Wayne Wang’s film based on Amy Tan‘s novel, on Thursday, 5/7.
Don’t be fooled: There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in April too! As soon as a couple of scheduling details have fallen into place, we’ll share the news with you here (and of course on our website) ~ Check back soon.
As always, there’s lots going on here at the Lark. The Moore-o-Nettes’ Marionette show (Saturday, 3/21) is almost sold out. Great to see so much local enthusiasm for this special form of performing art, which is so deeply traditional and yet which invites such wildly original creativity. We always welcome an opportunity to use our space – designed for film but also a beautiful concert setting – in a new and different way.
In Met Opera news, our live transmission and first encore performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly sold so quickly that we had to add a second encore, coming up on Wednesday, 3/18 at 7:00pm. The insanely beautiful, colorful staging of this production and the music – you’ve heard the heart-piercing aria “Un bel di vedrema,” even if you don’t know it – make this a great introduction if you’re new to opera, or new to opera onscreen. Just days later we’ll be showing the next opera in the Met’s season, La Sonnambula with soprano Natalie Dessay. There are still tickets available for the encore presentation on Sunday, March 22. The New Yorker magazine had an interesting profile of Dessay in its March 2 issue which will give you some juicy background if you’re already planning coming to the show, and probably convince you to come if you weren’t. Here’s a run-down.
Also upcoming is that family classic you have to see at least once on the big screen, The Sound of Music; some great live music; and our annual Youth Film Festival. Please check our website for details: www.larktheater.net. You can find us on Facebook too!
We welcome your comments and suggestions below.
