The Summer season is underway at the very special Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon. It is a unique experience to watch theater with nature surrounding you in an outdoor amphitheater. It’s an experience everyone deserves to have. Many enjoy arriving early to picnic in the gardens before a performance.
On stage now is “Waiting in the Wings,” which is filling the open air with laughter.
“Waiting in the Wings”has been described as a vibrant, funny, deeply humane comedy by Noël Coward that reminds us that a life well-lived is measured not by applause, but by connection. Co-producing artistic director Willow Geer is at the helm.
It’s a very relatable play, especially if you are a woman of a certain age. At the same time, it’s worth taking note for everyone to remember, as Bette Davis famously said, “Growing old ain’t for sissies.”
“Set in “The Wings,” a charity home for retired actresses, Coward’s 50th play is a witty and poignant portrait of nine opinionated, funny, difficult and full-of-life women, each of whom once basked in public admiration – but who must now learn to face old age together, long after the curtain has fallen.
“I wrote ‘Waiting in the Wings’ with loving care and absolute belief in its characters,” Coward once explained. “The play contains, beneath the froth of some of its lighter moments, the basic truth that old age needn’t be nearly so dreary and sad as it is supposed to be, provided you greet it with humor and live it with courage.”
“Waiting in the Wings” will run in rotation every weekend with “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Treasure Island.” “The People of Pompeii,” the newest work from Topanga-based playwright Bernardo Cubría, will join the repertory season on Aug. 1.
“Waiting in the Wings”opened on Saturday, July 11, and continues to run in repertory through Oct. 3.
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 455-3723 or visit theatricum.com.