GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen shares the latest in arts and culture on Morning Edition every week. Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday week, find something to do with friends and family (or on your own) in Boston's theater, museums and public parks.
"The Play That Goes Wrong"
Now playing at the Lyric Stage Company through December 18
The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents this production, billed as a cross between Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes, that follows a group of amateur actors at the fictional Cornley University Society as they put on a performance of "The Murder at Haversham Manor." As the title implies, any and all possible havoc ensues, from actors forgetting lines to stars fainting to sets falling apart.
"The Play that Goes Wrong" is, according to Bowen, perfectly suited for a smaller production company like The Lyric Stage Company: “I think, again, it works because it’s such an intimate space and the actors are so great for playing this so seriously ... this is supposed to be essentially community theater, and so when you’re in a smaller stage, it feels like that.” The comedy shines through in this production, Bowen says, offering much-needed humor for audiences.
"Five Marble Leaves"
On view at Central Wharf Park
Across from the New England Aquarium, Central Wharf Park is home to this public art installation presented by Now + There. Swiss artist Claudia Comte was inspired by the oak trees in the park to carve five massive sculptures resembling oak leaves out of marble; these statues are presented alongside six plaques featuring quotes from such prominent environmental activists as Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, Greta Thunberg and others.
The leaves themselves invite and encourage interaction from viewers. Bowen says that while “marble kind of represents being cold and stone and hard,” Comte’s work has “rounded edges evoking the tree and the leaves, and you just want to go up and hug them.” November is also a perfect time to visit the exhibit, as the park’s trees continue to lose leaves that swirl around their larger sculpted counterparts.
"Harry Benson: Four Stories"
On view at the Addison Gallery of American Art through January 29
Photojournalist Harry Benson was born in Scotland but unwillingly moved to the United States after being asked to follow a young band, The Beatles, on their first American tour. This exhibit at the Addison Gallery of American Art features photos from that tour, alongside other major historical moments that Benson captured. Selected pieces range from the building of the Berlin Wall to the James Meredith March Against Fear to the campaign trail and assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
The Addison Gallery, which is free and open to the public, has curated this exhibition of Benson’s work in such a way that transports visitors right back to those moments in the 1960s. As Bowen describes, “you feel that moment. You feel the gravity of the moment ... what must have been the horrible temperature of the room.”
