Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The artistic directors program notes (Welcome back!)
no longer raise the same tingle, and preshow announcements (Thank you for returning to live performance!)
now get only respectful applause.
Were back; weve been back.
But in the last few weeks, there has been one new sign of true return silliness.
Why now?Pfffft.
Hatcher has also rowed back on the plays bawdiness.
How can he tell if graffiti was written with a dildo?)
As in any good farce, the exposition takes less than half a page.
In plague-stricken London, the houses are empty, the servants left behind.
Whats a butler to do with all that … space?
Instead, the production relies most on Rogers, who is happy to shoulder the burden.
In any given instant, Rogerss Subtle growls, prances, swoons, and recovers.
Yet somehow healsohangs onto a kind of cat-in-midair dignity.
The two made strange theater fellows.
Certainly they draw the same wry conclusions.
as they stumble into what might be real gunfire.
Still,Preparednessis clever, angry work, and its a fascinating companion piece toThe Alchemist.
(HR is the new panacea.)
Miller is satirizing an artsy-fartsy theater department; Jonson mocks the woo-woo junk science of another age.
Laughter can do a lot for you, but at its best, it clears your head.
The Alchemistis at New World Stages through December 19.
Preparednessis at HERE Arts Center through December 11.
