Arguendo at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Arguendo

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St NW Washington

Using verbatim oral arguments and playful physicality, Arguendo introduces us to the Justices-who try to get to the bottom of this First Amendment puzzle-and the poor attorneys on both sides who gamely try to keep up. Each performance will be followed by a post-show conversation with noted First Amendment experts.

Thru - Apr 27, 2014

Wednesdays: 8:00pm

Thursdays: 8:00pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 3:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Price: $20 - $85

Show Type: Drama

Running Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes, no intermission

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Arguendo Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended

"...The city’s vast army of holders of LLBs and JDs is perhaps the likeliest to find the dissection of Barnes v. Glen Theatre a gripping exercise. It’s nowhere near the monumental achievement of “Gatz,” Elevator Repair Service’s six-hour, word-for-word staged recitation of “The Great Gatsby,” which proved to be a bold, bracing endurance test. In dramatizing the justices’ incisive divining of weaknesses in the lawyers’ arguments in the Indiana case, “Arguendo” is setting lower theatrical sights. It’s surely more fun than reading the briefs, even if it is at its most entertaining only briefly."

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- Peter Marks

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Can conduct communicate? In what instances do practices of non-speech— such as music, money, or dancing— become speech in the sense that they are then protected by the Constitution under the first amendment, the freedom of speech? Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company brings this notion to the table in the penultimate offering of their 34th Season: ‘America’s Tell-Tale Heart’ by introducing Arguendo, a production conceived by Elevator Repair Service. Taking an instance of America’s rich judicial history— the oral argument of the case Barnes v. Glen Theatre Inc.— to the stage in Washington DC serves up double helpings of irony and symbolism as the Supreme Court is just around the corner and the issue at hand is nudity in performance. Directed by the company’s Artistic Director John Collins, Arguendo serves out the quote: ‘one man’s lyric may be another man’s vulgarity’ in an aesthetic and artistic approach: one man’s reverent fascination for the internal workings of our judiciary system may in fact be another man’s irreverent mockery of that exact institution."

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- Amanda Gunther

Washingtonian - Somewhat Recommended

"...Making a play out of a notorious case is a worthwhile activity, but in this case, what’s missing is a greater point being made. Sure, we can laugh at the justices as they grapple with phrases such as “discernibly turgid state,” but the 23-year-old nature of the arguments means they don’t have much, if any, insight to offer to a contemporary audience. Yes, Americans can be absurdly puritanical at times, and yes, it’s funny to watch stuffy elderly folks struggle to talk their way around gynecological attributes. In Latin, “arguendo” means “for the sake of argument.” As theater goes, this Arguendo doesn’t end up digging much deeper."

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- Sophie Gilbert

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

Four fine actors (Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Susie Sokol, and Ben Williams) play the nine justices of the 1990 Supreme Court in a mix and match fashion that lets them stretch different muscles as each of several justices, regardless of age or gender. The fun of Arguendo rests on the feats of impersonation and increasingly absurd antics of this supremely talented and well-directed cast.

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- Ryan Taylor

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Arguendo at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Arguendo

Arguendo Reviews

Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

Washingtonian - Somewhat Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

Arguendo Photo Gallery

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