Arts & Entertainment

Red revolution

Historical play gets brisk, brave local production

Published

14 years ago

February 23, 2012

‘Les Justes (The Just Ones)’
Through March 11
WSC Avant Bard
Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Rosslyn
$25-$30
888-841-2787

James T. Majewski in the WSC AvantBard production of ‘Les Justes.’ (Photo courtesy C. Stanley Photography, courtesy WSC AvantBard).

“Terror is not for the tender,” says Stepan, a hardened revolutionary in WSC Avant Bard’s tight production of Albert Camus’ “Les Justes (The Just Ones).” When young Yanek (James T. Majewski) balks at blowing up the Grand Duke because the Russian royal’s entourage includes two children, Stepan (John Stange) sneers. It’s better to kill blue-blooded parasites no matter the age, and save the starving masses. According to him, Yanek is too soft.

Based on the true story of a group of Russian socialist-revolutionaries who assassinated the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (uncle to the Tsar) in 1905, “Les Justes” — in true Camus fashion — grapples with matters of morality, in this case the ethics of revolution. While most of the action takes place offstage in the muddy streets of Moscow, the audience is primarily privy to the interior of the terror cell’s apartment headquarters — a shining world of ideas beautifully imagined by set and lighting designer David C. Ghatan as a bright white hexagonal platform encircled by four suspended white woodcut panels that allude to the socialist struggle.

It’s here that the group’s philosophies are heatedly debated and forged. Yanek, a poet who gave up a cushy life to join the revolution, yearns to be accepted by his fellow rebels as a true militant. Their decision to assassinate the Grand Duke presents an opportunity for Yanek to prove himself. He argues with Stepan and others about the best way to carry out the plan. He also debates love with sweet but dour Dora (Nora Achrati), a young chemist who’s been recruited to make bombs. Rounding out the opinionated crew are its leveled-headed leader Annenkov (Frank Britton) and a more tremulous member, Voinov (Theo Hadjimichael), who ashamedly admits he is unfit for violent rebellion, opting instead to join the budding party’s propaganda wing.

A second (and more successful) assassination attempt lands Yanek in prison where he meets cellmate Foka (Brian Crane), a convicted murderer/hangman who believes justice is reserved for the afterlife. Yanek’s visitors include Skuratov (Graham Pilato), a private investigator who comes seeking a confession; and the aristo’s widow, the Grand Duchess (Karen Novack) whose burgundy gown (compliments of costume designer Jen Bevan) contrasts sharply with the revolutionaries’ black-and-white period costumes. She conveys to Yanek that while her late husband was no saint, he wasn’t entirely bad either. Neither Camus’ terrorists nor his tyrant come off as villains.

Translated and adapted by D.C. actor/director Rahaleh Nassri, the production’s script remains faithful to the 1949 source while sounding completely contemporary. Director Jay Hardee (who’s gay) puts the diverse nine-person cast through the paces in this brisk 90-minute production. Here and there, performances might ring a little one note in their intensity, but overall they’re more nuanced than not.

A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Camus’ works reflect his life experience, and what he, no doubt, questioned in his life. A product of French Algeria, Camus joined the French Communist Party in a reaction to the inequalities between Europeans and indigenous Algerians. During World War II he joined the French Resistance. Long after his death (a car crash in 1962), Camus’ questions about political murder feel as relevant as ever.

Related Topics:Albert Camus Les Justes Out & About WSC Avant Bard

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Theater

‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic

Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London

Published

1 day ago

June 20, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Steven Webb in ‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen’ (Photo by DJ Corey)

‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org

Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.

Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.

Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.

At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.

Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.

With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.

The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.

Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.

Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)

Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.

Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.

One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.

They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.