Tag Archives: Falcon Theatre

The setting is the aftermath of a series of gruesome child murders that take place in an unnamed totalitarian police state. A writer whose macabre fairy tales bear an eerie resemblance to the recent murders is interrogated by police officers who suspect a connection between the stories and the killings. What follows is a hard-hitting examination of the power, purpose, and nature of art.

Falcon Theatre’s third production of its 2017-18 season is Martin McDonagh’s bone-chilling black comedy The Pillowman, opening January 26. British Theatre Guide says the play has “hidden depths that will leave the amateur psychologists in the audience with much food for thought.” Curtain Up calls it “a riveting and very original theatrical nightmare” and “a thrills-and-chills examination of the storyteller’s art.”

The Pillowman is Falcon’s second production of a McDonagh play in three years. The Beauty Queen of Leenane was staged as part of Falcon’s 2015-16 season. Beauty Queen director Ed Cohen returns to direct Pillowman.

Playwright McDonagh has made a name for himself over the past twenty years as a writer of gripping stories that exhibit a dark humor. McDonagh also was screenwriter and director for the recent film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Director Cohen sees McDonagh’s humor as a device to throw the audience off kilter…and off the scent of the trail. McDonagh often leads his audience down a path that ends up in a place that they don’t suspect. “In this case,” Cohen says, “humor is used to keep the audience guessing. Is this real? Or is it an absurdist piece? Is the humor to relieve tension or to heighten the horror?”

The Falcon production features Rory Sheridan as Katurian, Michael Monks as Michal, Joe Hornbaker as Tupolski, and Nathan Tubbs as Ariel. Performances are at 8 P.M. on January 26, 27 and February 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10. Tickets are $22 for Adults and $15 for students (with valid i.d.). For tickets, go to falcontheater.net or call (513) 479-6783. ADVISORY: This play contains graphically violent content.

We’ve all been there.

A couples’ weekend getaway to a secluded and stylish country home. A boozy dinner. Empty wine bottles pile up. Inhibitions are lowered, and lips are loosened. Philosophical friction between the wife of Couple A and the husband of Couple B lead to a sexually charged argument that continues unabated after the other spouses have retired for the night. 

It all goes downhill from there. 

Falcon Theatre’s second production of its 2017-18 season is Theresa Rebeck’s hilarious quarrelsome comedy POOR BEHAVIOR. But far from being mere farce, the story takes a serious look at the nature of love and marriage and what exactly constitutes morality. Variety calls the play’s original Off-Broadway run “indecently funny,” and Theatermania describes it as “incredibly satisfying.” And according to The Wrap, the play’s antagonist is what would have happened “if George Bernard Shaw had conceived Stanley Kowalski” (a fitting and apt description, given that Falcon’s fourth production this season is A Streetcar Named Desire.) 

POOR BEHAVIOR arrives on the heels of Falcon’s first season production, Frankenstein, which came within a handful of seats of selling out its entire run. 

First-time Falcon director Lauren Carr says of POOR BEHAVIOR, “It’s a story about functioning dysfunctional couples in search simple human decency and maybe a chocolate muffin,” referencing one of the play’s running gags. Ms. Carr says that she’s approaching the production from an actor’s perspective. “The characters in the play leave actors a lot of room for interpretation and development. It gives me a chance to work with actors, which is my favorite thing as a director.” 

The Falcon production features Phineas Clark as Ian, Becca Howell as Ella, Derek Snow as Peter, and Torie Pate as Maureen.