Arts & Events

It’s sort of annoying when you can’t criticize a play because it’s so good. A baker needs to bake, a critic needs to criticize. That noted, this stymied critic is regaled to remind you that, every so often, there is a reason to cross the bridge. Becky Shaw at SF Playhouse is a great excuse. -more-

For the Groundhog Day faithful, recent mild weather has fostered a widespread expectation that Punxsutawney Phil would predict an early spring. He dashed the hope in seconds. But we in the Bay Area, with its moderate temperature, have no need to worry about frigid weather. And we're happy to offer several "heart-warming" activities in weeks to come. -more-

On Sunday, February 5, at 2 pm, at the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center Street, Barbara Babcock, Stanford Law Professor Emerita, will discuss Clara Foltz, the ground-breaking woman lawyer and subject of her biography, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz. Deserted by her husband and needing to support her five children, Clara Shortridge Foltz became a path breaker. With the help of her fellow woman suffragists, she fought her way into the California Bar in 1878 and became the first woman to practice law in the state. She introduced the idea that indigent criminal defendants should have state provided lawyers and that convicted criminals should have the possibility of parole. She became the first female deputy district attorney in the United States. -more-

Those of us who have been rallying Mondays are deeply troubled about how much inequality adversely effects our lives and the quality of life of the 99 percent generally. Bill Moyers, who has a wonderful way with words, expresses his concern: -more-

A peculiarity of contemporary drama is that we often start out disliking all the characters. In good modern drama, as the play progresses and we live their life and struggle with their struggles, our opinion changes. -more-

Three years ago, Shakespeare at Stimson closed. They sent a letter to their audience asking if they wanted more, and there was a resounding, “Yes!” -more-

Nancy Carlin has directed an enjoyable but uneven ARMS AND THE MAN by G. B. Shaw at Center Rep in Walnut Creek. -more-

The collaborations of director Luis Buñuel and screen writer Jean-Claude Carriere examine and satirize the dark underbelly of bourgeoisie society. Their films are dark, a bit twisted and sometimes discomfiting. But Buñuel and Carriere do not judge these characters. They are presented from a certain distance; we watch them, we gain a certain understanding of them, but we are not made to either identify with them nor be repulsed by them. Buñuel and Carriere merely present them as they are and allow the audience to come to their own conclusions. -more-

A young early 19th century girl, learning about thermodynamics, asking her tutor the meaning of "carnal embrace" ... He replies it's about hugging a side of beef ... A garden in the new "scenic" style, sublime, with a hermitage—but where's the hermit? ... And almost 200 years later, speculation, conjecture—and a costume ball—on the former inhabitants and visitors of manor and garden, which may have included Lord Byron, and their thoughts, their secret loves—maybe a fatal duel over one of those loves ...

Tom Stoppard's 'Arcadia' is on the boards at Live Oak Theater, and looks very good there, the set, props and costuming a triumph for Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. -more-

Virago Theatre Co—based in Alameda, and featuring a predominately East Bay cast—opens its production of Shelagh Delaney's 1959 hit comedy of asingle mother and her teenage daughter moving into a working class slum in Northern England, this weekend at the Thick House on Potrero Hill in San Francisco. -more-