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    Book Review: ‘The Whalebone Theatre,’ by Joanna Quinn

    Joanna Quinn’s “The Whalebone Theatre” breathlessly follows a trio of British youngsters from frolics on the beach to service and spycraft.THE WHALEBONE THEATRE, by Joanna QuinnWhales loom large not just in the ocean but in landlocked imaginations: these mysterious mammals, gentle but fearsome, threatened and threatening, almost unfathomably enormous. So like us with their warm blood and communication skills, and yet so not.You might never have cracked Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” and still use the phrase “great white whale” to mean an obsessive but elusive goal. The massive model in the Museum of Natural History was immortalized further by Noah Baumbach in “The Squid and the Whale.” Don’t forget Carvel’s Fudgie, the ’70s sheet cake that won’t quit. And one of the most appealing characters in Lidia Yuknavitch’s recent novel “Thrust” was the wearily maternal whale who helped out the human protagonist.The 60-foot-long, seven-foot-tall creature that appears in Joanna Quinn’s first novel, “The Whalebone Theatre,” is, alas, D.O.A., found beached on the coast of Dorset, England, by a 12-year-old named Cristabel, with the all-too-apt surname Seagrave. She quickly pierces her discovery with a homemade flagpole fluttering with the family coat of arms and shouts, “A mighty leviathan, I have claimed it,” to amused fishermen in the vicinity.Taking up toy weapons and disdainful of marriage plots, Cristabel is outlined in the endearing if slightly stock shape of unconventional heroine. Having wondered, “Why aren’t there interesting girls in the stories?” while being read the “Iliad” by Maudie, the kitchen maid who for a time shares her attic bedroom, she is determined, perhaps a little overdetermined, to write her own.She and her younger half sibling, Flossie (nicknamed “the Veg” for an indelicate countenance), and cousin Digby, whom she treasures as a brother, circumvent the laws about “fishes royal” belonging to the king, and will make of the whale skeleton a giant play space: to stage actual plays, the greatest hits of Shakespeare’s catalog, with help from the bohemian adults visiting Chilcombe, the estate where they live. Quinn has said in interviews she got the idea of the skeleton set from a Kate Bush concert.She is being eagerly interviewed because “The Whalebone Theatre,” a generous slab of historical fiction cut from the same crumbling stone as Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” and Elizabeth Jane Howard’s “The Cazalet Chronicles,” is a big hit in England. Centered on imperiled aristocracy during the well-trod period of 1919-45, it’s also been compared (inevitably, and to Quinn’s dismay) to “Downton Abbey,” Chilcombe being almost a character in its own right. I was reminded further, at least during its delightful first third, of Dodie Smith’s cult classic “I Capture the Castle” and of a lesser-known work by the prolific children’s book author Noel Streatfeild, “The Growing Summer,” in which four siblings are sent to live with their eccentric aunt in Ireland.Shimmeringly if sometimes a little preciously, Quinn depicts the strange, resourceful magic that can be conjured by a cluster of children when they’re neglected by selfish adults. Overseen by a vague French governess, they educate themselves with books stolen from the study, by eavesdropping from cloakrooms on drunken dinner parties and by running around with young “savages” they encounter scuttling naked around the shore, the progeny of Taras, a daring Russian artist.We first meet Cristabel when she is just 3, finding the taste of snow “disappointingly nothingy.” Her mother died in childbirth and her new stepmother, Rosalind, is vain, beautiful and cold like the snow, though not evil. Her stolid father, Jasper — still mourning his late wife, who haunts the ancestral pile like a more benign Rebecca de Winter — will soon be dead as well, tumbled from a horse (of course), his dashing younger brother, Willoughby, stepping easily into his shoes.The new couple will entertain a parade of international visitors of which Taras is the most vivid and voluble, enjoying boozy picnics by the sea and shopping expeditions — at least until it’s time to fight the Nazis. “We don’t have a choice,” Willoughby tells Rosalind, crackling his newspaper, when the doted-upon Digby enlists. “Surely they had a choice. They always had a choice,” she thinks, suspended in the recent past. “They chose extravagantly and at length. Fabrics, perfumes, tables in restaurants.”On atmospherics, “The Whalebone Theatre” is absolute aces, to borrow the patois of the Americans who drop in for cultural contrast, new-moneyed and loud. Reading it is like plunging into a tub of clotted cream while (or whilst) enrobed in silk eau-de-Nil beach pajamas. You’ll immediately want to change your font to Garamond and start saying things like “Toodle-pip, darlings!” The weather, whether misty or stormy, dappling sunshine or “moonlight falling through the window like an invitation,” is consistently impressive.Quinn is an energetic narrative seamstress. Into her giant tapestry she stitches in letters, lists, scrapbook entries, dramatic dialogue, Maudie’s sexually adventuresome diary entries and the occasional piece of concrete poetry. All of this is lovely and unforced.The novel begins to veer off the rails, however, when a grown Cristabel, “sick of pushing tiddlywinks about” as a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, becomes a secret agent, wrestling down an SS officer with the sudden physical dexterity of Angelina Jolie in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” The theater of childhood has become, yes, the theater of war. Flossie joins the Women’s Land Army, remaining at Chilcombe, where the finances have become predictably shaky, skinny-dipping with a German prisoner of war as vegetables fill their onetime proscenium. Maudie writes of sleeping with a Black soldier who plays her Billie Holiday (“he calls me a tall drink of water, but he is a river and I will lay myself along him”). Like many characters, even the older principals, even the poor whale, he is just passing through.Gorgeous and a little breathless, with luscious food scenes from beginning to end — enough cake and pudding for a thousand Carvels — “The Whalebone Theatre” could have been tighter corseted. But Quinn’s imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold, boding more commanding work to come.THE WHALEBONE THEATRE | By Joanna Quinn | 576 pp. | Knopf | $29 More

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    Trevor Noah’s Take on Russia’s Sham Referendums in Ukraine

    “I mean, it is one thing to conquer a town and blow up their buildings but to make them do paperwork? There is evil and then there’s evil,” Noah said.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Russian InterferenceIt’s been seven months since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ordered the invasion of Ukraine, or as Trevor Noah referred to it on Tuesday, “Putin went all Kool-Aid Man on Ukraine.” Noah also noted that Russia’s leader is “not hashtag-winning.”“Russian soldiers are going door to door forcing people to vote to join Russia and so because of that, 97 percent of the vote has been pro-Putin. Yeah, but I mean, let’s be honest — I mean, these voters have a ‘choice’ in the same way we have a ‘choice’ to not accept cookies on that website, you know? Yeah it’s like, what? So what, if I click ‘no’ can I not see how child stars have aged? What kind of a choice is that?” — TREVOR NOAH“You know my question is, who the hell is the 3 percent? No, I’m really impressed by this. Who had the balls to still vote against Putin while his soldiers watched them mark their ballots? Who was there and just like, ‘Yes, I have voted — for yo’ mama!’” — TREVOR NOAH“And honestly, like why do they even go through all of this, huh? Like going door to door, making everyone sign [expletive] just so you can do whatever are you already doing anyway. I mean, it is one thing to conquer a town and blow up their buildings but to make them do paperwork? There is evil and then there’s evil.” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Big Bang Edition)“Last night NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to see if it could stop one coming toward Earth in the future. Go, NASA! Meanwhile, the Space Force was like, ‘Cool, cool, so what exactly is our role again? Like, what do we do?’” — JIMMY FALLON“Boom! Yeah. How you like that, asteroid? That was for the dinosaurs.” — TREVOR NOAH“And in case you are wondering, no, the asteroid was not heading for Earth, all right? We were just testing the system. It wasn’t heading toward us. But now the other asteroids, they know not to test us. You don’t mess with Earth, man; we’re loco, man.” — TREVOR NOAH“The asteroid, named Dimorphos, is part of a binary system with another larger asteroid named Didymos, which means twin in Greek. Neither Dimorphos nor Didymos posed any threat to Earth, but now they know not to get any ideas, and they’re telling their friends.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingSeth Meyers flamed quiet quitting, Costco and Aaron Judge on this week’s “Ya Burnt” segment on “Late Night.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightAnderson Cooper will chat with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday’s “Late Night.”Also, Check This OutKevin Smith and Jason Mewes with the Buddy Christ figure featured in Smith’s 1999 film “Dogma.”Adam Powell for The New York TimesKevin Smith and Jason Mewes reflect on their decades-long partnership on screen and off. More

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    ‘Sesame Street: The Musical’ Review: Everything’s A-OK

    Jonathan Rockefeller’s Off Broadway production blends the charm and wit of the show’s early days with more modern characters.Bert has stage fright, Ernie has wandered off to take a bath, and a certain blue gourmand has already eaten the first two letters of his alphabet song. (They appear to be made of chocolate chip cookie, what was the prop master thinking?) But everything is just as it ought to be at “Sesame Street: The Musical,” a playful and captivating on-ramp to a love of show business, now running Off Broadway at Theater Row.Though the cuddly oddballs of “Sesame Street” have been amusing and educating children on TV for more than 50 years, on a Saturday morning at the theater, the pint-size fans are a discerning and unruly bunch, liable to throw their hands up and start wailing at any moment. (The show is recommended for ages 3 and above.) They are not afraid to ask the tough questions. (“Hey, where’s Elmo going?” one eager voice appealed.) And they have an instinctual appreciation for the shiny things in life. (“Look, bubbles!”)The new stage production, written, directed and produced by Jonathan Rockefeller, in collaboration with Sesame Workshop, delivers a meta look behind the scenes at the art of putting on a musical. A headset-clad lamb, defying the typical all-black stage manager’s uniform in favor of its natural coat, is running the show. (“Quiet ba-a-a-ackstage!”) The dramatic crisis, quickly resolved, arrives early: Somehow, the gang forgot to book a special guest. Stephen Fala, posing as a stray patron, ambles onstage and finds his big break. And with dimples like that, it’s no wonder.Pinnacles of the indelible “Sesame Street” song catalog are mixed into the musical, and Elmo is able to show off his moves.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesPinnacles of the indelible “Sesame Street” song catalog, like “Rubber Duckie” and “C Is for Cookie,” are mixed in with numbers meant to teach the human newbie in their midst, a clear audience surrogate, how to save the show. Never carried a tune? Be Rosita’s echo in “Sing After Me.” Can’t dance? The Count can teach you “The Batty Bat,” though you may prefer to take after Elmo, who at least has legs to demonstrate that he’s got the moves. A few new songs by Tom Kitt, Helen Park and Nate Edmondson touch on the power of imagination and dressing up as a vehicle for self-affirming play.Naturally, all that sounds like a reeking load of garbage to Oscar the Grouch, who assumes the part of a critic at large for this paper — subtly rebranded “The New Yuck Times” — with a review that decries the show as, “Stinky! Rotten! Trash!” (Respectfully, I disagree.) “You better not enjoy yourselves,” he warns. “Or I’ll have nothing to write about!” What’s an introduction to theater without a proper critic’s roast?Unfortunately for Oscar, who growls his signature ode “I Love Trash” with sour panache, the musical he knocks is far from rubbish, though it’s largely and lovingly fashioned from recycled material. A classic count-to-12 ditty harks back to the program’s 1970s roots, as do a pair of hares whose accordion limbs stretch like taffy in a funky dance break.Rockefeller’s production nicely blends the charm and wit of the early days of “Sesame Street” with both old-school and more modern characters, all courtesy of Jim Henson’s creature shop. Gabrielle, who sports Afro puffs, and Rosita, who speaks Spanish, are markers of its continued attention to social values like inclusion and understanding.Though its rich-hued aesthetics and loose structure are smartly designed to hold the attention of the young and restless, “Sesame Street: The Musical” rewards adults with the wonders of nostalgia and a few knowing ribs about life behind the footlights. It’s a beguiling place to play pretend — and to learn a thing or two about how to grow up in the real world.Sesame Street: The MusicalThrough Nov. 27 at Theater Row, Manhattan; sesamestreetmusical.com. Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes. More

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    Stephen Colbert Details Tidbits From a Forthcoming Trump Book

    “The real presidency is the rich friends we made along the way,” Colbert said in response to Trump’s remark that he has “so many rich friends, and nobody knows who they are.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Ask No Questions, Hear No LiesIn her new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, writes about the end of Trump’s presidency.On Monday night, Stephen Colbert detailed some tidbits from the forthcoming tell-all, including the former president’s denial that he was watching television on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the Capitol.“Really? Really? You’re accused of inciting an angry mob to storm the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power for the first in our nation’s history, and that’s the part of the testimony you’re taking issue with?” — STEPHEN COLBERT“The former president also said other things to Haberman, including this anecdote about running for president: ‘The question I get asked more than any other question: If you had it to do again, would you have done it?’ OK, that’s clearly a lie. The question he gets asked more than any other is ‘Do you want fries with that?’ The answer is yes.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“He continued: ‘The answer is, yeah, I think so. Because here’s the way I look at it — I have so many rich friends, and nobody knows who they are.’ Yep, the real presidency is the rich friends we made along the way.” — STEPHEN COLBERT[Imitating Trump] “A lot of times I’m asked what’s the main question I get asked is. That’s a good question. Well, I tend to ask myself the thing people are asking the most, which is ‘What question which gets questioned of me gets asked of me by me.’ Any questions?” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Father Figure Edition)“Hold on — I’ve felt a great disturbance in the force, because we just learned that James Earl Jones is retiring from the role of Darth Vader in ‘Star Wars.’ He will now be playing Baby Yoda.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“You see? The Little Mermaid becomes Black and they take away James Earl Jones! I told you there would be backlash! I told you!” — TREVOR NOAH“Instead of trying to find someone else to voice the part, Disney has said they are gonna use artificial intelligence to replicate Darth Vader’s voice. Yeah, I don’t know, people, this makes me a little nervous. Yeah, we think A.I. is going to take over the world, and now we’re going to teach it to use the dark side of the force? No one thinks this is a bad idea?” — TREVOR NOAH“That voice is iconic. It belongs in Darth Vader’s body — or announcing CNN promos — but that’s it.” — TREVOR NOAHThe Bits Worth WatchingJimmy Fallon announced his new bilingual children’s book, “Con Pollo,” co-written with Jennifer Lopez, on Monday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightDavid Letterman will pop by Tuesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutAndres sketching a piece.Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. for The New York TimesPaintings by Andres Valencia, a 10-year-old fifth grader, have sold for more than $125,000. More

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    Lynn Nottage’s ‘Clyde’s’ Is the Most-Staged Play in America

    An annual survey, suspended during the pandemic, resumes and finds theaters nationally doing fewer shows and torn between escapism and ambition.Theaters around America appear to be staging fewer shows than they were before the pandemic, but a lot of the work they are doing is by Lynn Nottage.An annual survey by American Theater magazine, conducted this year for the first time since the start of the pandemic, found that Nottage’s sandwich shop comedy, “Clyde’s,” will be the most-produced play in the country this season, with at least 11 productions. The survey also found that there were 24 productions of Nottage plays planned this season, which ties her with the perennial regional theater favorite Lauren Gunderson for the title of most-produced playwright in America.“Clyde’s,” which had a well-reviewed Broadway production starring Uzo Aduba that opened late last year, is peopled by characters who previously served time in prison, and its mix of laughter and social commentary, plus Nottage’s stature as a two-time Pulitzer winner, apparently appealed to those who program theater seasons. Among those staging the play are the Arden Theater Company in Philadelphia, the Arkansas Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Center Theater Group in Los Angeles and TheaterWorks Hartford.“‘Clyde’s’ just hit the sweet spot — it has a multiracial cast, it addresses issues of incarceration and racial tension, it’s a comedy, and it’s really smart, and it’s by a Pulitzer winner,” said Rob Weinert-Kendt, the editor in chief of American Theater and an occasional contributor to The New York Times. “It’s a comedy, but it’s not turning away from the world.”Nottage, in an email, said she was pleased the play was finding an audience.“‘Clyde’s’ is a play about people trapped in a liminal space. It is also about community, healing, creativity, mindfulness and forgiveness,” she said. “I’m really quite humbled to be back on the most-produced list with this particular play, which speaks to the moment, as it is about the process of resurrecting one’s spirit and finding grace in the simple business of living.”Lynn NottageJingyu Lin for The New York TimesThe finding that fewer productions are being mounted is troubling, though not surprising — artistic directors around the country have been saying that they were ramping back up slowly after the pandemic shutdown because audiences have not come back in prepandemic numbers. The American Theater lists are based on a survey of theaters that are members of Theater Communications Group; in the 2019-20 season, respondents reported planning to stage 2,229 full-run shows; this season, even with the first-time addition of audio and streaming shows, as well as productions on Broadway, the count is only 1,298.The survey, which counts both plays and musicals but excludes work by Shakespeare and variations on “A Christmas Carol” (because there are so many productions they would swamp everything else), finds more diversity than in the past: Seven of the 14 most-produced plays are by writers of color, and 10 of the 24 most-produced playwrights are writers of color.Notably, though composers are not tracked by the survey, work with songs by Stephen Sondheim is experiencing a spike in popularity since his death last year, with at least 19 productions planned around the country. (In New York, there are three: “Into the Woods,” which opened on Broadway this summer; “Merrily We Roll Along,” running at New York Theater Workshop this winter; and “Sweeney Todd,” coming to Broadway next spring.)After “Clyde’s,” the other most popular shows include some crowd-pleasing entertainments — the comedy “Chicken & Biscuits,” a stage adaptation of “Clue,” the musical “Once” — alongside more challenging fare, like Nottage’s play “Sweat.” After Nottage and Gunderson, the most-produced playwrights are Matthew López, August Wilson and Dominique Morisseau. The complete lists are at americantheatre.org.Update: After publishing its survey results on Friday, American Theater magazine amended its lists to reflect new information. As a result, the statistics about the season’s diversity have been updated in this story. More

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    What’s on TV This Week: ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Hostages’

    The sketch comedy show begins its 48th season. And HBO airs a documentary about the Iran hostage crisis.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Sept. 26-Oct. 2. Details and times are subject to change.MondayNATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (2007) 8:30 p.m. on Freeform. This movie, the second in the “National Treasure” franchise (with a new series, “National Treasure: Edge of History,” coming in December), stars Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Gates. He is the great-great-grandson of Thomas Gates, a man who has been accused of helping to assassinate President Lincoln after being named on a resurfaced page fragment from John Wilkes Booth’s diary. From there, the younger Gates enlists the help of his friend Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) to prove that his relative is innocent, and the two go on a wild goose chase that ultimately leads them to Cibola, the mythical city of gold.TuesdayBACHELOR IN PARADISE 8 p.m. on ABC. After a pretty disastrous “Bachelorette” finale last week, “Paradise,” the show where castoffs from the franchise gather on a beach in Mexico to mingle, might be a breath of fresh air. Because cast members on this spinoff are often able to spend much more time together, the success rate of couples who come off this show engaged, versus the ones from “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” tends to be higher. Jesse Palmer will host the show — following a slew of interim hosts last season, including David Spade and Lil Jon — and Wells Adams will be the official bartender on the beach.From left, Michelle Vergara Moore, Zyra Gorecki and Eoin Macken in “La Brea.”Sarah Enticknap/NBCLA BREA 9 p.m. on NBC. After a huge sinkhole in Los Angeles brought half of the Harris family to a prehistoric land at the start of the show, they remains separated as the second season begins. The first episode focuses on Eve trying to reunite with her son, who accidentally went into a portal that brought him back to 1988, and Gavin, Izzy and Ella trying to survive in 10,000 B.C.WednesdayA scene from the Zambezi in “Rivers of Life.”Tom Varley/Wild Visions GalleryRIVERS OF LIFE 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Last season explored the Amazon, the Nile and the Mississippi rivers — this year the series dives into the exploration of the Zambezi, Danube and Yukon. The show tells the stories of the wildlife and people who benefit from the rivers and details the waterways’ history.HOSTAGES 9 p.m. on HBO. On Nov. 4, 1979, a 444-day international crisis began when student activists from Iran stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took more than 60 Americans hostage. This documentary uses archival footage and new interviews to tell the story of how this international incident began and how it unfolded.ThursdaySO HELP ME TODD 9 p.m. on CBS. Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin star in this new series that centers on their mother-son relationship. Astin plays Todd, a former private investigator who lost his license and is generally a bit of a mess, and Harden plays Margaret, a successful lawyer. After she hires Todd to be the in-house investigator at her law firm, they navigate their personal and work relationship.CONFLICT (1945) 10 p.m. on TCM. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard Mason, a man who murders his wife in hopes of ending up with her sister, in this suspenseful film noir. “The appeal of this film, which is unpleasant and obviously morbid in theme, will be to those customers who are fascinated by the anxieties of a tortured man, who like to listen figuratively to the desperate thumping of a telltale heart,” Bosley Crowther wrote in his review for The New York Times.FridayTHE PRICE IS RIGHT AT NIGHT 8 p.m. on CBS. The daytime version of this show asks contestants to guess the prices of food and merchandise to win prizes — and so does this prime-time special, but the audience will be filled with twins. Iain Armitage and Raegan Revord, who play twins “Young Sheldon,” will be guest models showcasing the merchandise.SaturdayYVONNE ORJI: A WHOLE ME 10 p.m. on HBO. Yvonne Orji is best known for her role in “Insecure” and her last special, “Momma, I Made It!” In her follow-up, premiering this week, the topics that take center stage include dating, the pandemic, and being a child of immigrants. The show switches between stand-up comedy and scripted vignettes, which allows Orji to discuss issues in depth. In a 2020 interview with The Times, she was asked her comedic inspirations: “Wanda Sykes, Kevin Hart, Tiffany [Haddish] and Dave Chappelle, my God,” she answered. “I also grew up watching Sommore. She showed you could be this chick that’s confident and hilarious.”SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 11:30 p.m. on NBC. Miles Teller will host (his first time) and Kendrick Lamar will be the musical guest (his third, plus various guest appearances) to ring in the 48th season of this comedy sketch show. While “S.N.L.” recently said goodbye to several cast members, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kyle Mooney and Chris Redd, this season will feature a few new faces: Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.SundayVictor Garber and Jewel Staite in “Family Law.”Darko Sikman/eOneFAMILY LAW 8 p.m. on CW. This show already has two season out in Canada, but is having its U.S. premiere this week. The series follows Abigail Bianchi (Jewel Staite), a lawyer and recovering alcoholic who, after an embarrassing courtroom video of her goes viral, goes to work with her estranged father and half siblings at their firm specializing in family law.NOTHING COMPARES 10 p.m. on Showtime. In this new documentary, Sinead O’Connor sits down to discuss her rise to fame and her abusive upbringing. The film “relies on O’Connor’s own speaking voice, both today — it is husky and slightly weary, sounding older than her 55 years — and on archival footage, in which she is quiet, shy, and remarkably tolerant of interviewers harping on her shaved head,” Glenn Kenny wrote in his review for The Times. More

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    ‘House of the Dragon,’ Season 1, Episode 6 Recap: A Scandal Spills Over

    This week’s episode kicks off the next phase of the story as a long-simmering status quo finally becomes untenable.Season 1, Episode 6: ‘The Princess and the Queen’This week on “House of the Dragon,” we were reminded that a lot can happen in 10 years.For one thing, Alicent and Rhaenyra now seem like completely different people. The young queen, a callow peacemaker as a girl, has grown angry and aggrieved. Meanwhile, the princess’ former rebellious streak has hardened into a kind of royal court realpolitik, even as she keeps having Harwin Strong’s children.Daemon, the former rogue prince, settled down and even managed to have a couple of kids of his own with Laena. Laenor, the former sensitive young warrior, is now a dissipated playboy looking to get unsettled any way he can. Elsewhere in the Red Keep, the next generation of Targaryen men are gallivanting about, looking just as ill-suited for leadership as their predecessors.At the same time, there is plenty that hasn’t changed. Ser Criston is still hanging around. (What does a Kingsguard have to do to get fired anyway?) The Stepstones are a mess again. Somehow Viserys, last seen hitting the deck at Rhaenyra’s terrible wedding, is still alive. (Those leeches have been working overtime.)As we picked up the action a decade after said wedding, we found an unhappy family enduring in a kind of uneasy equipoise. How did we get here?Well, you might recall that Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) had a couple of interactions with young Rhaenyra, encountering her during her night on the town with Daemon and later hauling her out of the wedding brawl. Apparently somewhere along the way sparks flew and then kept flying, at least three more times.The additional heirs exacerbated Alicent’s intense resentment of Rhaenyra’s position — born partly of Alicent’s legitimate fear about her family’s future safety — leading her to lash out at everyone and make alliances with dubious characters. She’s almost convinced herself that she is motivated by a hope that “honor and decency will prevail,” even though she’s teamed with the dishonorable likes of Ser Criston and Larys Strong to make it happen.The simmering status quo finally becomes untenable when the royal cousins square off during their combat training, in the process becoming pawns within the larger drama. Because when a sparring exercise results in their trainer, Ser Criston, goading Harwin into giving him the beating he’s long deserved, the incident throws a harsh spotlight on the ongoing scandal.“People have eyes, boy!” Lyonel Strong later shouted at his brazenly virile son. Soon the Strongs and Rhaenyra were on their way out of town, leaving Alicent to plot how to get her ousted father, Otto, back in to even the playing field.The events kicked off the next phase of the story, as the rivals for the Iron Throne gather their supporters and retreat to their corners while everyone waits for Viserys — now looking like the Crypt Keeper as he wanders from chair to chair, ignoring the growing discord around him — to die.Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel), bonded in resentment.Ollie Upton/HBOAlicent and Rhaenyra literally are different people, of course, now played by Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy. Other additions included Nanna Blondell (briefly) as Laena, John Macmillan as Laenor and Ty Tennant as Aegon, an enjoyably feckless twit who’s about as ambitious as a ham sandwich.Alicent: “As things stand, Rhaenyra will ascend the throne and Jacaerys will be her heir!”Aegon: “So?”This week also saw the emergence of other prominent players, most notably Harwin (also briefly) and Larys. Heinous Act of the Week honors go to Larys, who freed a few condemned men in exchange for 1.) them torching his family home, along with his father and brother, and 2.) their tongues.Larys seems to be filling the shifty manipulator role occupied by Littlefinger and Varys in “Game of Thrones” — his name is even a portmanteau of theirs — though so far he lacks their depth, subtlety and slippery charisma. The murder of his father cleared the way for Otto to return as Hand — things seem to be heading that way, at least — even as it revealed to Alicent the quality of the company she’s keeping these days. The elimination of Lyonel and Harwin also make Larys the lord of House Strong, a real victory.It isn’t clear what effect Harwin’s death will have on the issue of his royal issue — is it better or worse for Rhaenyra, from an optics standpoint, now that he’s out of the picture? Could part of Larys’s plan be to create suspicion that the princess or her supporters had him killed to keep him quiet? With Rhaenyra and friends on their way to Dragonstone, she won’t be around to defend herself.Maybe we’ll learn more about this next week. We’ll also see how Daemon adapts to being a widower twice over — at least he didn’t kill his latest wife himself.Laena was a tragic figure, another illustration of the constraints that even women of privilege face in this story. We met her at 12, being offered up as a political child bride. She died in anguish as a young woman, another victim of the birthing bed.“I’ve reached the limits of my art,” the obstetrician told Daemon. The fact that he then just let his patient stagger off to commit Dracaryside suggests that those limits are quite profound. I do realize that Laena assessed the situation and sought the dragonrider’s death she foreshadowed earlier, but the mechanics of the scene, with an exhausted, doubled-over Laena somehow outpacing Daemon to the beach, were odd.What’s next for the suddenly re-eligible bachelor prince? I don’t see him committing to life as a stay-at-home single dad — it wouldn’t seem to suit him any more than being a pet dragon for Prince Reggio (Dean Nolan) in Pentos would have, as Laena perceived. (Reminder: Pentos is one of the Free Cities in Essos.)The turbulent Stepstones, the site of Daemon’s only real glory, could be tempting. Or maybe he’ll head back to Dragonstone, too. Many things change over the course of a decade, but I’m guessing his and Rhaenyra’s twisted mutual attraction isn’t one of them.A tragedy in the making: Matt Smith and Nanna Blondell in “House of the Dragon.”Ollie Upton/HBOA few thoughts while we wince“The childbed is our battlefield,” the late Queen Aemma noted in the premiere, and “Dragon” remains determined to show as well as tell us this fact. Miguel Sapochnik, the outgoing showrunner who directed this episode, was known on “Thrones” primarily for big combat episodes, and he’s been the go-to director for these battles, too. (When the episode opened on Rhaenyra’s exertions, I knew it was one of his without looking at the credits.) These grueling birth scenes are significant narratively and for what they reveal about the harrowing precariousness and lack of autonomy a woman endures in this time and place. But all the unsparing close-ups and vivid detail can start to feel like the show is fetishizing women’s agony. I greatly admire Sapochnik’s talent, but I also wondered how a female director might have presented some of these sequences.I was sorry to see Laena go so soon — as portrayed by Blondell, she radiated intelligence and nerve. At least Laena got to bond with Vhagar, the enormous ancient dragon she seemed fascinated by, as a girl, in her awkward chat with Viserys a few weeks ago.I love a good entitled doofus character, and Ty Tennant made a strong debut as the adolescent Aegon. Fun fact: He is the son of Georgia Tennant, a veteran actor and producer, and David Tennant, the electric Scottish star of “Doctor Who,” “Broadchurch” and “Jessica Jones,” among others.Harrenhal, the House Strong castle, has a long, colorful history in the lore. It was also the site of one of my favorite random “Thrones” subplots, when Tywin Lannister was based there during the War of the Five Kings and Arya was undercover as his cupbearer. I’ve said it before but so far in “Dragon,” I miss those kinds of delightful side trips.“The Triarchy” is to this show what “Meereen” was to “Thrones,” in that every time someone mentions it, my eyes glaze over. On the bright side, you can’t bring up a giant Tyroshi general “who dyes his beard purple and wears woman’s frocks” and not show him at some point, right? So that’s something to look forward to.What do you think? Does Larys fill the Littlefinger-sized hole in your heart? Did Rhaenyra make a mistake by leaving King’s Landing? And what’s with all the Red Keep rats? I assume they have some greater significance but am at a loss. Any theories? More

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    in Theater

    A Show With a Cryptic Title but No Code to Crack

    “300 el x 50 el x 30 el,” the Belgian troupe FC Bergman’s ambitious theatrical installation, will open BAM’s Next Wave festival with an elaborate set that recreates a rural settlement onstage.The Belgian theater collective FC Bergman was still young when it landed an invitation to a prestigious festival in its town, Antwerp, in 2011. “They said, ‘You have one evening — do something,’” Marie Vinck, a company member, recalled in a recent video conversation.The troupe members, who were finishing drama school, were thrilled — except that they had no money and no time. Still, in just a month, they hatched the sprawling “300 el x 50 el x 30 el,” an ambitious hybrid of theater, installation and live video, with an elaborate set that recreated a rural settlement onstage.“It was around Christmas time and we thought we could take the Christmas trees out of the streets to create this forest in the back of the theater,” Thomas Verstraeten, another member, said during the same Zoom conversation. “It was a very crazy experience, actually. We invited our friends to be onstage but also our parents, the father of a technician of ours,” he continued. “Marie’s old babysitter was in it. Because it was only once, they said, ‘OK, we’ll do it for free.’”From left: Thomas Verstraeten, Stef Aerts, Marie Vinck and Joé Agemans make up the theater collective FC Bergman.Paule JosepheDespite its abbreviated gestation, the show turned out to have legs: It has toured Europe, and this month will open the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave festival on Sept. 28 and run through Oct. 1. It will be FC Bergman’s U.S. debut.“It’s funny, it’s thought-provoking, it sprang from biblical sources, but it’s 100 percent contemporary,” David Binder, the artistic director of BAM, said of the show in a phone interview. “On one hand it’s pushing boundaries, and on the other hand it has a level of accessibility for everyone.” Well, not quite everyone. Binder quickly added that the evening is unsuitable for children.The cryptic title refers to the dimensions of Noah’s ark as described in the Bible, and the scale is appropriately awe-inspiring: The village that New York audiences will discover in “300 el x 50 el x 30 el” will accommodate a cast of 15, supplemented by scores of locally hired extras, live pigeons and, of course, that forest. “It’s one of our smaller shows, actually,” Stef Aerts, another company member, said, laughing.The collective’s productions have drawn comparisons to the physicality and transcendence found in the work of European superstars like Romeo Castellucci and Pina Bausch.Kurt Van der ElstAerts, 34, Verstraeten, 36, and Vinck, 39, were talking from Stockholm, shortly before a performance of their 2021 production “The Sheep Song,” a poetic fable about a sheep dissatisfied with its fate, at the Royal Dramatic Theater, once the home base of the Belgian troupe’s namesake, Ingmar Bergman. (Missing from the call was Joé Agemans, 40, also part of the collective. The other two founding members left in 2018.) FC Bergman regularly travels to the finest European houses and festivals, and since 2013 it has been a resident company at Antwerp’s municipal theater, Toneelhuis. The group doesn’t need to scavenge discarded goods for its sets anymore, leaving extra time for hatching new concepts.Indeed, while FC Bergman has tackled existing works, including an adaptation of William Gaddis’s novel “J R” and the Bizet opera “Les Pêcheurs de Perles,” it usually conceives its own, typically wordless, material. For “The Land of Nod” (2015), the collective set a show inspired by Jean-Luc Godard movies and Flemish masters in a custom-built, full-scale replica of the Rubens room at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, garnering comparisons to the physicality and transcendence found in the work of European superstars like Romeo Castellucci and Pina Bausch.As for “300 el x 50 el x 30 el,” the troupe drew from the aesthetics of the Scandinavian crime series that were becoming popular at the turn of the 2010s. “That was also the period when we discovered the work of the great Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson, who became a really big influence,” Aerts said, before mentioning “the other Scandinavian guy, Lars von Trier, and also, of course, the Catholic religion and lots of Flemish visual arts.”“It’s about people who are very much isolated in their mini-community,” Aerts said of the show, which uses live video to take audiences inside the homes of the villagers. Kurt Van der ElstRelatively little in this production happens in full view of audience members, who watch the proceedings via a live video feed. “It’s about people who are very much isolated in their mini-community — they live in the village but they don’t interact with each other, only in their little houses and with their little families,” Aerts said. “I think the use of the camera translates this feeling to the audience. You’re just presented the walls of locked houses, but you can peek through the keyhole.”This leaves viewers a lot of room to superimpose their own narratives and interpretations on the visuals. “We played in Greece in the middle of the Euro crisis and you felt that people saw the show as some kind of a metaphor for their situation,” Verstraeten said. “Now it will become something else. I love the idea that meaning is something that can change all the time.”The three company members also emphasized that there is no right or wrong way to read the show.“I hope that the audience permits itself to be very open and to not have the urge to analyze it or to find a key, to crack the code,” Aerts said. “You have to get underwater and let the performance flow over you.” More