Central Works opening premiere production of the 2023 season, a new comedy MONDRAGOLA from CW co-director/resident playwright Gary Graves has extended through April 23rd (originally scheduled to close April 16). At MONDRAGOLA's opening the press enthused, "Graves' script allows one to "hit the ground running...", the production is "...as much a satire of theatre as it is politics." Charles S. Lewis III 48 Hills. "Playwright Gary Graves has taken facts about Machiavelli and added his own creative twist in a fascinating play" Sally Hogarty East Bay Times. "A comedic gem. It's a winning combination of lighthearted farce, historical references and a satirical jab at the relationship between playwrights and actors..." MONDRAGOLA is "enhanced by sophisticated staging and uniformly smart and expressive acting." Emily S. Mendel, Berkeleyside. Performing Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm. Now through April 23 in the historic Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Directed by Jan Zvaifler, MONDRAGOLA features actors Monique Crawford, Edwin Jacobs, Rudy Guerrero (member AEA) and Steve Ortiz. The production has stage management by Natalia Rivera-Ramos, costume design by Tammy Berlin, prop design by Debbie Shelley and sound design by Gregory Scharpen.
Mondragola is Italian for "The Love Root" (an aphrodisiac)
The man history will come to know as the author of The Prince, the infamous "Handbook for Tyrants," Niccolo Machiavelli, is in exile and struggling to get by as an itinerant playwright writing farcical sex comedies to make ends meet. But a big break comes when he's invited to present a new play at an elite soirée in Florence. Little does he know, his play is merely bait to lure the Cardinal of Florence into an assassination plot. When Machiavelli realizes what's afoot, he must choose: is he with the conspirators, or against them? Either way, he could see his head wind up on the chopping block. Politics, and playwriting, is a dangerous game!
Performing Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm. Now through April 23 in the historic Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
The play imagines an impoverished and exiled Niccolo Machiavelli in his later years, trying to get back into the good graces of the15th century Medici Court in Florence by presenting a farcical sex comedy he has written. Unwittingly, he steps into an attempt at a political coup. Politics, and playwriting, is a dangerous game!
"Most people don't know that the guy we think of as the author of The Prince, the infamous 'Handbook for Tyrants,' was also the most popular playwright in his day (50 years before Shakespeare hit the stage)" remarks playwright Gary Graves, continuing "History tells us Machiavelli's play, LA MONDRAGOLA (or, The Mandrake Root) was first performed at a private soirée for an elite audience in Florence in 1522. I wondered what might have happened behind the scenes, backstage, in the 'Theater of Machiavelli."'
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