Arts & Events

--One of the rarer of Shakespearean plays is in its last weekend: 'The Tragedy Cymbeline, King of Britain,' produced as early as 1611, is onstage for four more shows--two on Sunday--outdoors under the stars (and a Sunday matinee) at Forest Meadows Amphitheater, Dominican University in San Rafael, the home of Marin Shakespeare, whose artistic director Robert Currier directs a cast featuring Paul Abbott as in the title role.

With all the trimmings--a secret wedding, a young woman disguised as a man, a young hero visited by the ghost of his father--'Cymbeline' sounds at times like a compendium, too, of The Bard's plays of various genres, tragic, comic, romantic ... Indeed, academics have long argued over whether it's a Tragedy, as titled, or a Romance, like The Winter's Tale, which it in some ways resembles.  

The story was freely adapted from Holinshed and Geoffrey of Monmouth--part of the Matter of Britain, whence came Arthurian Romance--about an ancient Celtic ruler, Cunebeline--in Welsh, maybe more like Cymbelyn with a hard "c," so yet another piece of evidence pointing to The Bard's elusive "Welsh connection," which (among others) American kabuki specialist (and Scriabin biographer) Faubion Bowers was investigating when he died a decade ago.  

In any case, it's a satisfying story and spectacle, definitely one of a piece with Shakespeare's Canon--and rarely staged.  

Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p. m. with a Sunday matinee at 4, Marin Shakespeare at Forest Meadows Amphitheater, parking at the Conlan Recreational Center, 1475 Grand Avenue (at Acacia Avenue), Dominican University, a half mile north of central San Rafael. $10-$35. marinshakespeare.org 

--And for something onstage, less Bardic, more up-to-date verbally, David Mamet's masterpiece, 'Glengarry Glen Ross'--produced around the Bay a few times lately--is onstage through the end of August right now with an unusual credit: its director, Sasha Litovchenko. 

Litovchenko was trained in Russian theater (the point of origin of the Method, which Mamet's plays are often thought to be the present day exemplar of--as well as unusual forms of stylized art) in Kiev, became associated with filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov ('Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,' 'The Color of Pomegranates [Sayat Nova]') and is co-founder of Creative Association ARK in San Francisco, where he produces, directs and acts in both Russian and English-language shows. 

'Glengarry Glen Ross,' Thursdays through Saturdays at 8, Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter (between Powell and Mason), downtown San Francisco. $25-$50 (discounts available) sheltontheater.org/