Synetic

We had a wonderful, fun time with John and Esther last night from 6:30 until 8:10 and then again from around 9:40 until 10:00. In between, Synetic Theater performed The Fall of the House of Usher. What a disappointment.

John and Esther introduced us to live theater about seven years ago. They were regular theater goers, and I asked them to take us along sometime and help me figure out what the appeal is. Usually, when I had been to plays I just felt embarrassed for those people up on the stage bouncing around play acting like 6-year-olds.

Not long afterwards, the four of us were sitting in the tiny, cramped Church Street Theater, up near Dupont Circle, watching Paata and Irena Tsikurishvili make magic with Molière's The Imaginary Invalid. We were hooked.

Since then we've thrilled to lots of their plays. With the simplest props and scenery, they continued to amaze. We'd come out afterwards gushing "Did you see when they . . ." or "How in the world did they . . . " or "That was fabulous when they . . . "

Unfortunately, we haven't had occasion to rave like that for quite a while. Last night, I'm sorry to say, was just plain boring. I started checking my watch after only 30 minutes.