Theater

It’s shift work that allows John Smith, as ordinary a fellow as his name, to keep two lives: one with Mary in Wimbledon; another with Barbara in Streatham.
Two lives and two wives.
That’s the idea that propels “Run for Your Wife,” a British farce written by Ray Cooney and set in Thatcher world, 1975.
That means bell bottoms, Beatles T-shirts, flimsy mod dresses, lengthy sideburns, longterm unemployment and a persistent effort to make things hilarious by bringing in the gay guy from upstairs to redecorate Barbara’s bathroom.

 
   When Tim Farley was growing up, the knottiest question for Roman Catholics was should the host melt in the mouth or be chewed? Oh for the good old days, the parish priest is telling his congregation in Bill C. Davis’s 1981, two-man play, “Mass Appeal.” 
   Times have turned turbulent: Women seek the priesthood, so do gay men, and changes in the culture press upon the church. 

The musical now playing at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck doesn’t recycle old pop songs or recreate them. It doesn’t tell an uplifting tale of triumph over adversity, and it’s definitely not for children. But it’s well worth seeing for its haunting music, beautiful staging and fascinating theme.
It’s the story of a group of repressed teenagers in 19th-century Germany, discovering their sexual feelings and the consquences of acting on them.

If you are looking for big time drama — heavy plot, serious character development, revelations about the human condition — skip “The Liar.” But if a meringue of rhyming couplets might be welcome, then rush to Shakespeare & Company to giggle, and laugh out loud at David Ives’s translation of the 17th-century French classic by Pierre Corneille.