Burning Coal Theatre brings Tom Stoppard’s Travesties to Raleigh this October

The fast-moving comedy mixes James Joyce, Vladimir Lenin, Dadaism and Oscar Wilde in a fictionalized trip through Zurich during World War I.

Burning Coal Theatre Company is ready to mix revolution, literature, and a healthy dose of absurdity when Tom Stoppard’s Travesties takes the stage in Raleigh this fall.

Directed by Flora Bare, the production runs October 8–25 at Burning Coal Theatre’s Murphey School home at 224 Polk Street. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

The comedy drops audiences into Zurich in 1917, where novelist James Joyce, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and Dada movement founder Tristan Tzara all find themselves in the same city while World War I unfolds around them.

Into that unlikely mix comes British officer Henry Carr, who is attempting to stage Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Things become even more chaotic when Nadya Lenin arrives with news that revolution has begun in Russia.

Stoppard based the premise on an unusual piece of history: Joyce, Lenin, and Tzara were really living in Zurich during the same period. The story, however, unfolds through the unreliable memories of an elderly Carr as he tries to recall exactly what happened—and who was playing whom.

Bare returns for her fourth directing assignment with Burning Coal. Her Triangle-area credits include productions at Raleigh Little Theatre, Cary Arts Center, The Justice Theatre Project and Burning Coal, where she has also served as choreographer.

Longtime Burning Coal collaborators Steven Roten and John Jimerson lead the cast as Henry Carr and Tristan Tzara. Jenn Suchanec, Alexandra Finazzo, Ryan Pater, Vuitton Bond and Meredith Snow round out the ensemble.

Tickets are $30, with discounted admission available for seniors, students, teachers, active-duty military, and guests 18 and younger. October 9 is College Night, with $5 admission for college students with valid ID, while the October 11 performance is Pay What You Can. Free parking is available in the public lot beside the theater.

Details: Travesties, Oct. 8–25, Burning Coal Theatre, 224 Polk St., Raleigh. Tickets and additional information are available at burningcoal.org.