If you shun holiday cheer, try these two shows

 
 

They are not festive. They are not seasonal. They are not one bit jolly. They are two of classic theater's most notorious female protagonists: Hedda Gabler and Medea.

Well, Hedda wasn't so bad. In Henrik Ibsen's 1890 drama she just makes life miserable for everyone around her and then shoots herself. As for Medea, well, in a fit of jealousy she uses her supernatural powers to kill her husband, her husband's girlfriend and her own children. Medea's, uh, forceful personality has attracted playwrights ever since 431 B.C., when she was featured in a tragedy by Athenian dramatist Euripides.

In "Medea Knows Best," Nebunele, a local fringe ensemble, has transported the ancient myth to America in the 1950s. Seven actors explore fraught male/female relations with the help of a doo-wop chorus.

"blahblahblahBANG (a pistol fit in one act)" is the Washington Ensemble Theatre's take on "Hedda Gabler," or, as the company puts it, "written by Ibsen ... destroyed by WET." The work was commissioned by On the Boards.

As characters, both Medea and Hedda might be congenial company for those whose reactions to sweetness-and-light holiday shows is "Bah, humbug!"


"Medea Knows Best" runs Friday through Dec. 22 at the Ground Floor Studio Theatre, Odd Fellows Hall, 1529 10th Ave.Tickets are $12; nebunele.com.

"blahblahblahBANG" runs Thursday through Dec. 17 at On the Boards, 100 W. Roy St. Tickets $18, under 25 $12; 206-217-9888 or ontheboards.org. This story is from seattlepi.nwsource.com


Image from www.cityofheroes.com

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