Here’s what you should check out this week:
The devil you know: Explore the sinister minds of Macbeth, Iago, and other Shakespearean bad boys in
All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, a one-man digital show. Actor Patrick Page who’s used to playing the malefactor onstage will take on various villainous roles to illustrate the Bard’s best antagonists in this Shakespeare Theatre Company production. Available to stream starting Thursday 2/4; $25, buy tickets here.
Sip and chat: Have tea with musicians in a monthly series from the National Museum of Women in the Arts. This week, hear a brief performance from local singer Courtney Dowe, followed by an interview in which she’ll discuss how she combines songwriting and human rights activism. Friday 2/5 at noon; Free, watch it online here.
Theater to Stream: Shakespeare Villains and Hot-Tub Dreams
Patrick Page looks at bad guys, Steven Carl McCasland gives us literary women, and Jill Sobule mines her own history, including the dreaded seventh grade.
A still from “The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral,” from The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago performing-arts group. Credit.via The Neo-Futurists
Feb. 3, 2021
Dark and wintry days, cold nights: February is the perfect time to cuddle up with some so-called chiller theater.
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Toxic squares: Travis Schweiger and Chelsea J. Smith, top, and Neal Davidson in Stephen Belber’s “Tape.”Credit.via The Shared Screen
Let’s start with Stephen Belber’s “Tape,” which begins with a character shoveling coke up his nose and goes on from there. In this 2000 play (adapted into a Richard Linklater movie), the friends Vince and Jon have a relationship so toxic, it could qualify as a government cleanup project. Their reunion starts with the needle in the red, then really skids off