Datebook
SanFranciscoChronicle and SFChronicle.com|Wednesday,January 11, 2017|Section E
Bill Irwin doesn’t wa nt to appear “too antic.”
Irwin, one of the nation’s most respectedclowns,
reveals hisworry as he arrives for a photoshoot
for “On Beckett,” his soloshow that mixes ex-
cerpts from Samuel Beckett’s plays and prose with
his own commentary and anecdotes.
He’s rig ht to be concerned.
Irwin, 66, has Bay Area
clowning roots that date to
the 1970s, when he per-
formed with the influential
PickleFamily Circus.
Though he’s been based in
New York for years now —
winning a 2005Tony Award
for his performance in
“Who’s Afraid ofVirginia
Woolf?” —Irwin returns frequently to performat
ACT, most recently with ashorterrun of “On
Beckett” in 2015,“Old Hats” in 2014 and “End-
game” in 2012.
To represent“On Beckett,” which runs through
Jan. 22at ACT’s StrandTheater, he says he wants
to makesure the focus is on theNobel Prize-win-
ningIrish playwright’s language.
Paul Chinn /The Chronicle
Bill Irwin, shown at the ACT rehearsalstudio, has been a notedclown sincethe PickleFamily Circus days.
Renowned clown is
serious about Beckett
Kevin Berne 2012
Irwin asHamm (left) andNick Gabriel as Clov in
ACT’s 2012 production ofBeckett ’s “Endgame.”
Bill Irwin’s solo show built aroundIrish playwright’s words
By Lily Janiak
Irwincontinues on E6
On Beckett:By Bill Irwin.
Through Jan. 22. $30-$70.
ACT’sStrandTheater, 1127
MarketSt., S.F.(415) 74 9-
- http://www.act-sf.org
vTosee a video of Charlie
Rose interviewing Bill Irwin
about Beckett’s “Texts for
Nothing”: http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=7BfErYAJ8a8
AmyHerzog’s “Belleville” is
the kind of play that cango
from astartlingly, painfully
honest portrait of a contempo-
rary affluent young couple to a
bloodbath(and puke-bath) in a
matter of seconds.
She captures withkeen eye
the way spouses, precisely
because they’re spouses, can
savage one another and then
apologize sincerely, cast asper-
sions thenlust violently for one
another, all in the same instant.
She gi ves such full breath to the
banalities of married life of
Abby (Alisha Ehrlich) and Zack
(JustinGillman), American
expats toParis’ Belleville neigh-
borhood, that in momentsit’s
Lurid
scenes
from a
marriage
CarlosAvila Gonzalez/ The Chronicle
Alisha Ehrlich andJustin
Gillman in “Belleville.”
By Lily Janiak
“Belleville” continues on E2
M
Belleville:By Amy Her-
zog. DirectedbyM. Gra-
hamSmith.Through Jan.
- 90 minutes. $20-$42.Cus-
tom MadeTheatre, 533 Sutter
St., S.F.(415) 79 8-2682. http://www.
custommade.org
TimLee’searlieststand-up
wasn’t attemptedat acomedy
cluboropenmikenight,butin
thehallsofacademia,wherethe
comedianrememberssneaking
aslideofactorTony Randall
intoaPowerPoint presentation
aboutmigratingfish.
“Salmonaresemelparous,
whichmeanstheybreedonce
andtheydie,”Leerecalls.“At
thispoint,Tony Randallhad
justhadkidsinhis80s.SoI
explainedby saying,‘LikeTony
Randall;he’s breedingandnow
hewilldie.’Somepeople
thought it wasfunnyandothers
werelik e, ‘No...’ ”
Themixedreviews didn’t
deterLee. Thecomedianno
Scientist
evolved
to career
as comic
Leecontinues on E2
By Peter Hartla ub
The irresistibly annoying
theme songwarns you to find
something else towatch —
anything but the tale of endless
miseries befalling a trio of
orphanedchil-
drenawaiting
you if you stick
around beyond
the credits.
Ignore the
warningat your
own peril — and
by peril I mean
the certainty
that “A Series ofUnfortunate
Events” willsweep you up in
its droll, comedic pseudo-
melodrama.
The eig ht-episode series,
available onNetflix onFriday,
Jan. 13 (of course), is based on
the books of the same titleby
Lemony Snicket, previously
thought to be a Bay Areaau-
thor named
DanielHandler
but now revealed
to beactor Pat-
rick Warburton,
who narrates the
unfortunate
events that occur
in theyoung
lives of Klaus
(LouisHynes),Violet (Malina
Weissman) and the most eru-
dite infant this side ofStew ie
Griffin, Sunny Baudelaire
JoeLederer / Netflix
CountOlaf (NeilPatrick Harris) schemesto get the inheritance ofthe Baudelaire orphans
(including Malina Weissman andLouis Hynes) in“A Series ofUnfortunate Events.”
DAVID WIEGANDTelevision
‘Events’ a series you
can’t look away from
N
ASeries of Un-
fortunateEvents:
from the booksby
LemonySnicket, season
oneavailablefor streaming
on Friday,Jan. 13, on Net-
flix.
Wiegan dcontinues on E3