Ainaz Azarhoush and Mohammad Aghebati in “Blind Runner” at South Coast Repertory. Photo by Matt Stasi.
Chances are you’ve never thought of running as a political act. You may view it differently after seeing “Blind Runner” by Amir Reza Koohestani at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa (where it, um, runs through Nov. 8). And you should see this international multi-media hit if you want to get a glimpse of how people live on the other side of the world, specifically Iran.
“Runner” almost defies description, but it centers on a blind woman training for a race. It also makes a sharp commentary on the difficulty of communication between human beings; appropriately, it’s performed entirely in Persian with English supertitles.
The exceptional problems of production—the writer-director was not permitted to join the crew—only serve the underscore the adverse situation in putting the show up here. Imported from Paris, this Mehr Theatre Group production is being presented in Association with UC Irvine. Info: scr.org.
If the turnout was a bit sparse for the Houston Ballet’s mid-October visit to Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the company was decidedly on point. “Sons de L’âme” (“Sounds of the Soul”) was an unusual program choice but gave audiences the rare opportunity to see dancers perform to live accompaniment, the classy stylings of pianist George Li.
Coming up: American Ballet Theatre brings “The Nutcracker” back to SCFTA (accompanied by Pacific Symphony) Dec. 10-24. Itzhak Perlman returns to make love to the violin on Jan. 21 courtesy of the Philharmonic Society, and The Stuttgart Ballet makes its first visit to So Cal in over 20 years with Tchaikovsky’s “Onegin,” Feb. 4-7. Info: scfta.org.
Long before the great Peter Lorre was typecast as creeps and villains in Hollywood, he played all sorts of parts in Germany. In “The Trunks of Mr. O.F.” (1931), he sports a toothy grin in a comedic role as a newspaper editor. This highly amusing farce about a mysterious hotel guest who turns a small town upside down anticipates the Ealing comedies of the 1940s and ‘50s, and features an almost unrecognizable Hedy Lamar in a supporting role.
Scantily clad cabaret dancers give us a taste of Weimar decadence, a parallel to Hollywood’s Pre-Code days. The film is a step back in time to an era that championed self expression and creative freedom; it’s but one of a quartet of rarities in the Blu-ray box set “Champagne and Caviar: Four Weimar Comedies (1931-1932)” from Flicker Alley. Info: flickeralley.com.
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