The Belle of Amherst Here’s the problem: the intense inner life suggested by Emily Dickinson’s poems makes her an intriguing subject for theatrical exploration, yet her nearly complete lack of an outer life renders her hard to dramatize. In this 1976 solo piece, here revived by Court Theatre, playwright William Luce tried to turn the problem itself into a source of momentum. We first meet Dickinson near the end of her 55 years, living in almost complete seclusion—but cheerful, even perky about it. She bakes, cultivates eccentricity, savors words, and utters stirring transcendentalist notions. The rest of the two hours is designed to keep us engaged by exposing the suffering beneath her bonhomie. Accordingly, Kate Fry’s Emily is charming at the start, lacerating at the end. But neither she nor director Sean Graney can move us reliably through the long middle. The poet’s duality is most dynamically expressed, it turns out, by Arnel Sancianco’s set: a pristine bedroom surrounded by a ruined house. —Tony Adler
The Nutcracker The House Theatre’s annual adaptation of the E.T.A. Hoffmann classic presents a “ballet-free” alternative to other Nutcrackers around town. With pointe shoes aside, it’s chock-full of drama and surprisingly dark, tracking Clara and her parents’ grieving process following the death of her brother Fritz, a soldier. Haley Seda shines as Clara, exploring and inhabiting a complicated range of emotions, from abject sadness to imaginative delight when her toys come to life to save Christmas. Under Chris Matthews’s direction, the lighthearted moments are equally compelling and heartwarming, including a Christmas cookie mess in the kitchen and the toys’ first experience of snow. And the fun isn’t just for the kids, with Uncle Drosselmeyer playing the pivotal role in ensuring Clara’s magical fantasy (or is it reality?) reaches its climactic moments with the evil Rat King. —Marissa Oberlander
