POW! (Play Of The Week)

POSH
by Laura Wade

What happens when you put ten rich, smart, competitive men in the same room with a case of expensive wine and a ten-bird roast (imagine a turducken times three)? Posh.

Every term, the ten members of the Oxford University’s Riot Club gather together to eat good food, drink expensive wine and trash a dining room with the expectation that they can pay off anyone who complains. This term, a clash over the leadership and the future of the club agitate this already combative group of affluent students. Dressed in tails and up for a night of debauchery, the Riot Club exchange insults, brilliant quips and stories about their crumbling castles that have been turned over to the state. Throw in an overly attentive proprietor, his “tasty” daughter and a “professional” prostitute and the boys of the Riot Club are in for a more memorable night than they bargained for.

Posh premiered at London’s Royal Court in the spring of 2010 on the eve of the general election that brought the Tories to power. Modeled after the Bullingdon Club (which current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron was a member of), the Riot Club is Wade’s means of exploring England’s ruling class, their attitudes and their origin. Her apt use of the well-bred vernacular simultaneously charms and terrifies the audience as the Riot Club members continuously undercut one another. These are smart young men who have a frightening hatred bubbling beneath the surface. A hatred for poor people, a hatred for unintelligent people, a hatred for the people who have taken their country away from the people who deserve to rule it. What’s even more frightening is how good they are at articulating this hatred and how comfortable they are doing so in the company of one another.

Wade has written a clever, scathing, funny play about the men behind the curtain in politics and how they got there.

12M, 2W
Reviewed by Kate

Thurs, Dec 15 @ 6 P.M: Tony award winning playwright David Henry Hwang reading and book signing at The Drama Book Shop. FREE Admission.

Tony award winning playwright David Henry Hwang reading and book signing at The Drama Book Shop Thursday December 15, 2011, at 6:00 pm. Free admission.

A rare opportunity to hear one of America’s finest playwrights.

David Henry Hwang, with special guests, will read and discuss his current Broadway offering, Chinglish as well as his award-winning plays M. Butterfly and Yellow Face at The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street on Thursday, December 15th.

David Henry Hwang's works include the Tony Award-winning M. BUTTERFLY, the hit musical AIDA, and his current Broadway comedy, CHINGLISH. He is a three-time Tony Award nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner, and has twice been a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Wed, Dec 14 @ 5 P.M: Teresa Rebeck & cast members reading from Broadway show Seminar at The Drama Book Shop

A terrific free event at The Drama Book Shop with Teresa Rebeck and cast members reading from her Broadway show Seminar, now playing at The Golden Theatre to rave reviews.

There will also be a Q&A and she will also sign her plays.

THERESA REBECK
Broadway credits include Seminar (currently running at the Golden Theatre) and Mauritius. Past New York productions include The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection, Spike Heels, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann, View of the Dome and Omnium Gatherum (co-written, Pulitzer finalist). Publications include her Collected Plays Volume I (volumes II and III, fall 2007), Free Fire Zone (fall 2007), all with Smith & Kraus, and her first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother (spring 2008) with Shaye Areheart/Random House. Rebeck has written extensively for film and television as well. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, Boston‘s Elliot Norton and IRNE awards, a Writers Guild Award, an Edgar and a Peabody. She thanks her husband Jess and children, Cooper and Cleo.

Thurs, Dec 15 @ 9 P.M: A FREE night of sketch comedy at The Drama Book Shop

A FREE night of sketch comedy from the New Sketch Group

Sister Act at The Drama Book Shop