theater

It can be very misleading to describe any play as “a comedy about unhappy people.” No one likes to laugh at other people’s troubles.

It sounds simplistic, even obvious, but theater availability and general entertainment choices are usually limited during a holiday week. Today is Easter Sunday and this week celebrated Passover. The lack of theater, be it touring shows or locally produced work, indicates what happens when audiences are preoccupied by such important events.

Artists everywhere are contemplating what type of art they should create in changing, uncertain times. The question becomes “Do you offer political drama or escapism entertainment?”

This Thursday through Sunday, The Fisher Center at Bard presents “Masterclass,” an hour-long parody about playwriting, power, pomposity and people from Dublin-based theatre troupe Brokentalkers and feminist choreographer and performance artist Adrienne Truscott. Adrienne is one half of cabaret duo The Wau Wau Sisters who mix performance modes from circus to main-stage and with some regularity perform in the buff. She will serve as MC of the Spiegeltent at Bard this summer for the second consecutive season. Brokentalkers are an internationally renowned theatre company, based in Dublin, Ireland led by Co-Artistic Directors Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan with Creative Producer Rachel Bergin.

The national tour of the musical “Funny Girl” opens at Proctors in Schenectady on Tuesday. It’s based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, one of the most important figures in 20th century entertainment.

The fallout from COVID keeps being discovered. The most recent is the reason for the Solo Fest at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill. When I attended “Help! I’m Trapped in a One-Woman Show” on Sunday, March 16, co-founder Steven Patterson told me the reason they created the festival was the abundance of one person shows available because actors wrote them while in isolation during COVID.

There is a strong temptation to start a review of “Shucked” with a pun. Preferably a bad pun. However, if you are like me and delight in terrible puns this is the show for you.

There are many reasons to attend “The Lehman Trilogy” which is at Capital Repertory Theatre through April 6. One is the powerful performances of three superior actors. Another is the focused direction of Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill. They are all in service of a text that is eloquent, compelling and even educational.

“The Lehman Trilogy,” which opens on Tuesday at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, is that rare work in which the writing is deeper than the synopsis indicates.