Arts

Send stage listings two weeks in advance to: stage@seattleweekly.com.

* indicates free tickets available for some performances to celebrate Live Theater Week.

Openings & Previews

The Air is Peopled With Cruel and Fearsome Birds The new show by performance troupe Implied Violence includes movement from Jessie Smith and sound contributions from Sam Mickens. Villville, 1534 First Ave. S., 206-340-2703, www.impliedviolence.com. $5-$15. Opens Fri. Oct. 27. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Sat. Nov. 18.

* Bedroom Farce Three bedrooms, four couples, and escalating arguments in Alan Ayckbourn's comedy. Stone Soup Theatre, 4035 Stone Way N., 206-325-6500, www.ticketwindowonline.com. $10-$22. Preview 7:30 p.m. Wed. Oct. 25. Opens Thurs. Oct. 26. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 3:30 p.m. Sat. Ends Sat. Nov. 25.

Compendium of NastinessA revival, two weekends only, of playwright/director Ki Gottberg's hourlong "extrapolation" on 19th-century gothic melodrama. Actress Elizabeth Kenny plays all the roles, including virtuous Angela and evil Uncle Osmund. A meditation on desire and sexual discovery, among other things, the production both celebrates and satirizes the classic elements of narrative. The Womb, 15-seat private residence in Madrona, 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $25. No tickets available at the door; arrive between 8 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Fri. Oct. 27-Sat. Oct. 28, Fri. Nov. 10-Sat. Nov. 11.RICHARD MORIN

Crossroads Project Drawing mall shoppers into interviews and performance art with Donald Fels and members of the Washington Ensemble Theatre. Crossroads Mall, N.E. Eighth St. and 156th Ave. N.E., Bellevue. www.4culture.org. Free. Opens Fri. Oct. 27. 11:30 a.m. & 1 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Sat. Nov. 4.

Major Bang The Foundry Theatre's Dr. Strangelove-flavored multimedia meditation on fear, real and manufactured. On the Boards, Studio Theater, 100 W. Roy St., 206-217-9888, www.ontheboards.org. $22. 8 p.m. Wed. Nov. 1-Sun. Nov. 5 only.

Open BoxMonthly open mike for playwrights. The Jewelbox Theatre at the Rendezvous, 2322 Second Ave., 206-720-0083. $3. 4:30 p.m. Sat. Oct. 28 only.

Oracle A multimedia experience including everything from music to healing. Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave, 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com, www.oraclegatherings.com. $25-$30. 8 p.m.-5 a.m. Sat. Oct. 28 only.

* The Winter's Tale Mark Harrison directs Shakespeare's Bohemian romance. Center House Theatre at Seattle Center, 206-733-8222, www.seattleshakespeare.org. $18-$32. Previews 7:30 p.m. Wed. Oct. 25-Thurs. Oct. 26. Opens Fri. Oct. 27. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Sun. Nov. 19.

Patrinell Wright An onstage interview with Wright, the leader of the Total Experience Gospel Choir and a mover and shaker in Intiman's annual holiday show, Black Nativity: A Gospel Song Play. Intiman Playhouse, 201 Mercer St., Seattle Center, 206-269-1900, www.intiman.org. $10. 7:30 p.m. Mon. Oct. 30 only.

Last Chance

7 Strangers: Season 3, Episode 2The latest installment of this reality-theater spoof of MTV's Real World, in which audience members move freely through a house peopled by seven cast members. EXITheatre at 1812 12th Ave., 206-550-1268, www.exitheatre.com. $10. 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Ends Sat. Oct. 28.

ArcadiaTom Stoppard's Olivier Award–winning play is a heady murder mystery that melds past and present while tackling a dizzying array of topics. Bainbridge Performing Arts at the Playhouse, 200 Madison Ave. N., Bainbridge Island, 206-842-8569, www.theplayhouse.org. $15-$18. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun. Ends Sun. Oct. 29.

Beautiful 3 Bdrm, 2 Ba on Capitol HillPerformance artist Megan Murphy imagines the perfect house in an empty lot, part of 4Culture's site-specific program. 1111 Pike St., 206-296-7580, www.4culture.org. Free. 6:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Sat. Oct. 28.SANDRA KURTZ

BetrayalHarold Pinter's play begins as former lovers—in this case Emma (Heather Hawkins) and Jerry (Bob Borwick)—meet on neutral ground to sum up, in excruciating discomfort, all that has come to pass. From there, the play, directed by SPT associate artistic director Carole Roscoe, moves backward in time—like an exploded bomb rising up, sucking in shrapnel and collateral damage, and reintegrating. It's an autopsy of infidelity, no less distasteful for ending at the moment of seduction. Robert (Shawn Belyea) and Jerry are best friends from way back; Robert and Emma are married; Jerry and Emma commit adultery—they betray Robert, but not only Robert—in an affair long-standing enough to require a flat rented in secret, a lair of sex and lies. The cast, especially the excellent Hawkins, are adept at capturing the psychic damage inflicted by a sense of betrayal, a wounding that can turn around and lash out with unbounded nastiness. Unfortunately, SPT's production is all ashes and no inferno, with little evidence of even the most coldly calculating passion within and, more importantly, between the characters. Such remoteness is only exacerbated by the adoption of British accents, an utterly unnecessary contrivance that seems to create a serious gap in the actors' ability to connect to one another. Such a reliance on mimicry is symptomatic of an unwillingness to take hold of the material. SPT's production of Betrayal, whether over-reverential or too timid, commits a kind of self-betrayal. Seattle Public Theater, 7312 W. Greenlake Dr. N., 206-524-1300, www.seattlepublictheater.org. $14-$24. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Sun. Oct. 29.RICHARD MORIN

Black SnowAn adaptation of Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's comic novel about a young writer whose failed novel is turned into a play. UW School of Drama at the Penthouse Theatre, UW campus, 206-543-4880, depts.washington.edu/uwdrama. $8-$15. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Sun. Oct. 29.