Solo reveals have been round so long as there was theater — longer, truly, if we depend storytelling by a campfire. There may be an elemental intimacy concerning the format and, let’s face it, an financial attraction at a time of belt-tightening.
Regardless of their seemingly restrictive method, one-person productions are available many shapes and kinds: tales instructed by a single narrator and ones wherein the performer embodies many characters, for instance; dramatic yarns; and comedian efforts that may flirt with stand-up. The final hybrid appears to be having fun with a form of golden age, illustrated by the successes of Mike Birbiglia (“The Outdated Man and the Pool”) and Alex Edelman, whose latest Broadway hit, “Just for Us,” will be at the Curran Theater in San Francisco, Oct. 26-28.
The approaching months are a boon for theatergoers who love uncrowded phases, beginning with the autumn iteration of the cornucopia often called the United Solo Theater Competition (via Nov. 19 at Theater Row). Here’s a choice of notable reveals.
Interrogating biography
Typically, it takes one icon to take measure of to a different. The French actress Isabelle Adjani (“The Story of Adèle H.,” “Camille Claudel”) engages with Marilyn Monroe, fable and girl, in “Marilyn’s Vertigo.” The present, introduced in French with supertitles as a part of the Crossing the Line Competition, is framed as a dialogue with the Hollywood star, and was written by Adjani and Olivier Steiner. Oct. 12-13; FIAF Florence Gould Hall, Manhattan.
In a distinct register, John Rubinstein returns for an encore of Richard Hellesen’s “Eisenhower: This Piece of Floor,” a dive into the lifetime of the navy leader-turned-president that has proved fairly fashionable. By means of Oct. 27; Theater at St. Clement’s, Manhattan.
One’s a crowd
The formidable Patrick Web page is a flexible actor, however let’s face it: He’s greatest recognized for portraying antagonists, together with the Inexperienced Goblin in “Spider-Man: Flip Off the Darkish” and Hades in “Hadestown.” Perhaps it’s his basso profundo voice? In “All of the Devils Are Right here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain,” directed by Simon Godwin, Web page — whose command of his craft our critic described as “stupefying, easy” — scrutinizes these traditional characters. This is perhaps the one time we ever see his tackle Girl Macbeth. By means of Jan. 7; DR2 Theater, Manhattan.
Following his acclaimed solos “The Man within the Girl’s Footwear” (2015) and “I Hear You and Rejoice” (2018), the Irish author and actor Mikel Murfi is bringing to New York the trilogy’s conclusion, “The Mysterious Case of Kitsy Rainey.” Murfi portrays a spread of characters from County Sligo, and performs all three items in repertory. Audiences can see any of the reveals, or all of them. Oct. 24-Nov. 18; Irish Arts Center, Manhattan.
Lameece Issaq has written for ensembles in works like “Meals and Fadwa,” however her new piece, “A Good Day to Me, To not You,” is a solo. Within the present, introduced by the Waterwell firm and directed by Lee Sunday Evans (“Oratorio for Dwelling Issues”), Issaq performs a 40-something former dental lab technician reconsidering her life as she strikes right into a rooming home run by nuns on the Higher West Facet of Manhattan. Nov. 8-Dec. 9; Connelly Theater, Manhattan.
Gabe Mollica and Caitlin Prepare dinner are often known as comedians, however their work blurs the road with theater. Each performers are returning to the stage with encore runs of items which were constructing a buzz. In “Solo: A Present About Friendship,” Mollica explores his realization that he has buddies however no shut associates, and tries to dig into the explanations for that. Our concepts and hangups about masculinity could nicely play an element. Oct. 10-28, Connelly Theater Upstairs, Manhattan.
Prepare dinner’s “The Writing on the Stall” is impressed by the gold mine of comedian materials discovered on the partitions of bar loos. She has turned graffiti noticed through the years right into a present integrating songs (a pleasant micro-trend amongst comedians; see additionally Catherine Cohen), bits of anthropology and autobiographical sharing. Oct. 16-17, SoHo Playhouse, Manhattan.
Delivery of a performer
4 years in the past, Ben Brantley described Edgar Oliver’s physique of labor as a “singular sequence of elegiac efficiency items,” which primarily quantity to an oral historical past narrated by one individual. Oliver’s new piece, “Rip Tide,” revisits his days performing on the Pyramid Membership, the East Village boîte the place renegade drag, rock, spoken phrase and efficiency artwork thrived within the Eighties and ’90s. By means of Oct. 28; Axis Theater, Manhattan.
In her evaluate for The New York Occasions, Laura Collins-Hughes identified how Melissa Etheridge turns Circle within the Sq. into an intimate music membership for her concert-cum-memoir present, “My Window,” now on Broadway. A few of the rocker’s most enjoyable anecdotes cowl her early years taking part in lesbian areas from her native Kansas to California. By means of Nov. 19, Circle in the Square, Manhattan.
Desk for what number of?
Technically talking, Geoff Sobelle’s “Meals,” which is a part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Subsequent Wave Competition, includes lots of people. Sobelle (“The Object Lesson”) is the host of a cocktail party at which viewers members sit at a really giant desk for what’s described as “a meditation on how and why we eat.” Since “Meals” was created with the magician Steve Cuiffo (“A Simulacrum”), it’s no spoiler to say it includes entertaining trickery. Nov. 2-18, Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Repertory of ones
Playwrights Horizons is making sensible use of its area by presenting three solos in repertory. Drawing from years as a tutor, Milo Cramer wrote and performs in “Faculty Footage,” a play with music that appears at our training system by way of a spread of New York college students. The comic Ikechukwu Ufomadu, who opened for Catherine Cohen at Joe’s Pub this summer time, brings extra of his surreal musings in “Amusements.” And Alexandra Tatarsky’s “Unhappy Boys in Harpy Land,” which includes clowning and nudity, seems to be the wild card of this bunch — emphasis on wild. Nov. 2-Dec. 3, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan.
