Arts And Entertainment
Berkeley Opera Presents ‘Romeo and Juliet’
By Jaime Robles, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007
The opera opens with all the characters placing themselves, one by one, facing out toward the audience on an open stage set with stylized arches, stairs and doorways portraying Renaissance Verona. The music swells tempestuously as the cast recites the prologue of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “Two households, both alike in dignity …” At verse’s end, the cast sweeps from the stage and the action starts.
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Jazz House Hosts Zipper Festival
By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007
The Jazz House, under the aegis of the Berkeley Arts Festival, will produce the Zipper Festival, its first festival of jazz this weekend, from Friday night, with acts 6-9 p.m., Saturday 2-8:30 p.m., and Sunday 2-8:30 p.m., featuring acclaimed local players like saxophonists Howard Wiley and Dayna Stephens, Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond, drummer Weasel Walter, saxophonist John Gruntfest, and Damon Smith on bass, at the old Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave.
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At the Theater: TheatreFIRST Presents Bold ‘Serjeant Musgrave’
By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007
“You brought in a different war.”
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Moving Pictures: A Minimalist Journey Along the Road to Recovery
By JUSTIN DeFREITAS
Friday May 04, 2007
Andrea Arnold’s Red Road, a Scottish film opening this weekend at Shattuck Cinemas, draws the viewer in immediately with its quiet intensity. The film begins with Jackie (Kate Dickie) silently watching a bank of monitors at her job at a security company, each screen presenting a different view of urban Glasgow from cameras positioned around the city.
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The Thearer: Macbeth at Berkeley Art Center
By KEN BULLOCK
Friday May 04, 2007
Whether it’s the Weird Sisters on the heath, a dagger hovering in mid-air, Birnham Wood marching on Dunsinane, or “No man of woman born,” the Bard’s “Scottish Play”—so-called to guard against its very own evil eye—is usually drenched with atmosphere and gore, and served up as a kind of Hallowe’en blowout with cultural credentials.
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