"Violent Delights" by Night Fire Theatre at the Crane Theater

#TCTheater artist Penelope Parsons-Lord developed Violent Delights, a compilation of scenes from Shakespeare that explicitly or implicitly connote violence, nearly 20 years ago in her native Australia. Last seen locally in 2019, it's only gotten more relevant, as our culture seemingly gets more violent every year. Violence is everywhere around us - on the news, in the games we play, in our language, and even in Shakespeare. Violence is so pervasive in our world that we sometimes don't even notice it (e.g., using the phrase "you killed it" to mean you did a great job), which is the premise of this piece. Penelope has reexamined these familiar works, pulling out "small moments of violence," and maybe now we can begin to recognize them in the real world. A talented nine-person cast plays too many characters to count, the scenes well chosen and woven together, combined with pop songs and movement to create a gripping tale that isn't one cohesive narrative, but still tells a story. You can witness these Violent Delights at the Crane Theater in Minneapolis through February 14.

"The Crucible" by Hang Fire Productions at the Historic Mounds Theatre

A #TCTheater company so new they don't even have a website or an Instagram page, Hang Fire Productions is making their debut with the classic play The Crucible. I'm not sure which came first, the company name or this production, but "Hang Fire" is certainly an appropriate name for a troupe tackling this dramatization of the Salem witch trials in late 17th Century Massachusetts, in which a firestorm of fear and accusations resulted in the hanging of 19 innocent people. More than 300 years after the events depicted and 70 years since Arthur Miller wrote the play in response to McCarthyism, the themes of religious fanaticism, mob mentality, the miscarriage of justice, and scapegoating are still relevant. If anything, with the anonymity and viral nature of the internet, it's almost easier for this kind of thing to happen. Hang Fire Productions, formed from some of the artists involved in the now defunct Mission Theatre, makes a promising debut with this strong production. Their short two-weekend run concludes this weekend at the Historic Mounds Theatre* (click here for info and tickets).