12 Crystal City: Hasar Masob

As Sam mentioned, we switched our roles for this evening out (something I believe is healthy to do, but also driven by necessity as I was in the production he saw).

So our originally scheduled program for the post-show entertainment was going to be Thai. However, the first Thai restaurant was not allowing late seating, and the second had already closed its curtains for the day.

On impulse, I suggested we attend a late-night dish at Hara Mesob, an Ethiopian establishment I had only been to once. Now, the mesob is a straw table unique to this culture, and encourages a means for all audience members to be engaged in an evening long improvisation.


Granted, they also have traditional, American restaurant tables (with corners and such), but the dish we ordered still encouraged the same interaction. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The prologue and exposition for the evening was provided by a wonderful woman by the name of Sunny. She was engaging above and beyond your typical server's performance. She made the evening personal by finding out about us, and informing her about herself. Not only that, she made it clear that late seating was allowed, particularly if there were still other patrons enjoying a savory performance.

That being said, the dish we ordered amounted to a one-act, in that we got a mixed platter. I can't even remember the particulars, but it was a delicious performance in the round. Instead of everyone having a individually ordered performance which others might sample, everyone at the table enjoyed a singular dish, simply from different points of view.

Now, the scenic design for this shared dish involved multiple meats and vegetables, resting atop one singular piece of injera, which was also used in place of utensils. The improvisation part comes when your hands start to dance, by tearing of pieces of injera, then navigating them to whichever dish you might want to try. The hands of you and your fellow dinner guests begin to weave in and out of each other, and when they land at their destination, a quick pinching motion captures the food and brings it back to your mouth.

It was never spoken, but this was mostly a silent dance, much like the production "Plate" saw and reviewed. There's no explicit portions, so you can't help but keep in mind making sure the other person still has an option to enjoy whatever you might. This proved not to be so much of an issue, as we were too full to finish everything on the platter.

Now for an encore, we enjoyed a bit of Tiramisu, which Sunny once more provided just a bit of personal insight about.
If you would like a unique, communal, engaging and personal dining experience, I would strongly recommend you consider checking out Hasar Masob.

Harar Mesob on Yelp

12 Crystal City: King Arthur

(Flyer from Synetic's website)

So we’re switching things up this time: I’ll review the Arts since the “stage” part of the blog is actually on stage. But I won’t go that far… my forever-hungry stomach was well engaged when I went to see Synetic’s King Arthur. It was a feast of kings!

Location:

Tucked in the middle of Crystal City buildings but very close to the metro station. The venue is more fancy than low-key, and not necessarily charming. But home is home so congrats to the theatre company (led by Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili) for finally finding a permanent venue for their shows!

Seating:

This show uses a “water stage”. The “splash zone” (first two rows for some, apparently first five for others) has been the Talk of the Town. So when you go buy your tickets ask yourself the same questions you do when you go out and dine: do I want a seat in the back and enjoy my meal quietly? Or do I want the exciting spot next to the open kitchen? It all depends on what you’re in the mood for; to be or not to be… splashed.

Starters:

Water is one of the main ingredients in this show. Some might presume that this causes the production to be gimmicky or a monotonous series of splish and splash, but don’t be fooled. The use of water is so creative and dynamic and you come to realize this right at the beginning: Merlin (Alex Mills) walks on stage creating ripples in the lake that are beautifully reflected on the background; a few minutes later, Morgan le Fay (Jodi Niehoff) emerges from that same lake causing a strong splash that disturbs the serenity of the scene.

Entrée #1:

Consistently strong, with a couple of traditional fighting scenes expected from an epic like King Arthur. What impressed me the most however was the cleaver use of lighting and “non-lighting”. Light and darkness, as water, are prominent parts of this production. They are put into great use in a scene where Uther magically morphs into king Cornwall as he sneaks into the castle to sleep with queen Ingraine.

Palate Cleanser:

The dancing sequences are refreshing after all the fighting and drama. The first was served on the Round Table when Arthur (Ben Cunis) is enshrined as king. The guys proved that they are not only good at the fight scenes but also excel at dance during this folklore-esque piece.
   
The second followed soon as Arthur and Guinevere (Brynn Tucker) celebrate their marriage. This seemed to be a favorite scene for many, including the actors themselves. The brilliant Celtic-Modern fusion music that infuses the ambient is most apparent here.

Entrée #2:

More fighting and drama. You also start to see the creative versatility of the set: a scene which introduces Lancelot (Vato Tsikurishvili) uses the “rocks” on stage as a bridge; before that, they were the Round Table; and later on, they will be turned into a mountain. Another showcase of creativity is in the “ménage a trios” scene between Arthur, Morgan, and Guinevere. Like a great complex dish, this scene plays with your senses as the three stand apart performing a series of well coordinated movements. Flavors then smoothly blend into one another; love and sensuality becomes hate and anger as Morgan rapes Arthur towards the end of the scene.

Dessert:

After this amazing feast of senses you are left looking forward to dessert. Unfortunately, there is no grand finale. However the lack of a powerful final impact is compensated by an elegant artistic touch. The final scene mirrors the first scene when Merlin appears with the Excalibur. This time around, the wizard disappears in darkness as the legendary sword returns back to the water, creating a full circle that marks the end of the show.

Final Comments:

King Arthur is as fantastic as previous shows that I’ve seen by Synetic. Although the “water stage” is a new concept to the company, they manage to make it work so well and so artistically that it doesn’t detract from the group’s amazing performance. If you are not yet convinced, I’ll leave you with this amazing trailer.

11 Chinatown: The Vibrator Play

So, this post is unbelievably late, and for that I apologize.

"In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play" was actually extended at Woolly Mammoth, and closed a couple of weekends ago. So while reading this might not serve as a review of a show you might see, hopefully it will give you an idea of what Woolly has in store for its audiences, this season.

The Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl, kicks of a season intended to provide a "striptease of the subconscious". The essence of the season is to be "a focused and poignant exploration of our attitudes toward gender, age, race, and sexuality in a manner that's uniquely Woolly". I could try to sum up the piece, by Woolly's synopsis will do just fine:

"At the dawn of the electrical age, a new medical device is developed to pacify “hysterical” women, but it produces a shockingly different result. Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sarah Ruhl, creator of Dead Man’s Cell Phone and The Clean House, returns with a richly textured comedy about marriage, motherhood, and the charged energy between our bodies"

Now, Woolly is by far one of my favorite theatre companies. Part of what I love (and this is the Arts Management lens coming in) is their mission:

. . . to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing, and promoting new plays that explore the edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theatre to serve the people of Greater Washington, DC.

LOVE IT!!

And I definitely believe that's what they're continuing to do, and have done with this show.

Walking in, the set is definitely interesting, with some heavy duty medical lights hanging from the ceiling, as if saying that the stage is this giant operating table, yet the bulk of the scenic design incorporating wood, from walls to furniture. And just to add the audience into the mix, a viewing gallery of sorts, serves as the second floor of the house on stage.

Although the title of the piece is "In the Next Room", the only thing separating the living room from the...'operating' room is a door and its frame, which provides for some very interesting scenes with action and dialogue occurring in both rooms simultaneously.

The highlight of the play for me is the dialogue between two women, the doctor's first patient and the doctor's wife, when describing the completely different experiences each had upon treatment of the device. The insightful yet hilarious writing is the essence of what really drives the first act.

The second act, is less entertaining, which isn't to say it is less artful. It leaves the lofty and light-hearted canopy of the subject matter addressed in the beginning, and becomes mired in the weeds, trying to make philosophical and logical sense of emotional and sexual well-being and health.

Some of the musings it left me with were as universal and general as people not wanting to be alone, but then as personal as what do individuals look to for companionship.

All-in-all, a worthwhile evening, and a great start to an exciting season.