Thalian Association(TA) has spent the summer staging plays at the intimate theatre on 3rd Street, the Red Barn Studio Theatre. The offerings have been different than the popular musicals TA often produces; instead, thoughtful and sometimes intense dramas have been on the ticket. This summer season ends with an award-winning work by the award-winning British playwright Tom Stoppard: The Real Thing. This show not only won awards when it premiered (including a Tony in 1984)-it also won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play in 2000 (as well as a Drama Desk for Outstanding Revival in the same year).
The show has shows within the show, following the lives of a playwright and an actress expressing emotions that are sometimes their own and sometimes not. This production features Maggie Miller, Bradley Coxe, Amanda Young, and Joshua Bailey, couples that end up switching partners early on.
"The Real Thing" at the Red Barn Studio Theatre. August 6-23. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays @ 7:30, Sundays @ 3:00
Perhaps the most interesting award Stoppard ever received was the PEN Pinter Award in 2013 for "determination to tell things as they are." This show is an interesting opportunity to see how Stoppard expresses this skill while examining the boundaries between truth and fiction.
