Weekend Event Planner

These are the 7 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

As a new year begins, event organizers are easing into things slowly, with fewer new events than usual in the Dallas area. The focus is mostly on local happenings, like two local theater productions, a classical music concert, a ballet, an Elvis tribute artist, and two art exhibition closings. Theater lovers will also enjoy an up-close look at the national tour of a Tony-nominated play.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, January 6

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents What the Constitution Means to Me
Playwright Heidi Schreck’s boundary-breaking play breathes new life into the Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human new play, Shreck (portrayed by Cassie Beck) resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. The play will run at Winspear Opera House through Sunday.

East Dallas Arts presents Romeo & Juliet Shakespeare in Motion
East Dallas Arts will take on a Shakespeare classic with Romeo & Juliet Shakespeare in Motion, a movement and dance retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Directed and choreographed by 17-year-old Tilda McSpadden, the production — running through Sunday — will feature a local Dallas cast ranging in age from 15 to 22.

Friday, January 7

Cry Havoc Theater Company presents The Forever Quest
Cry Havoc Theater Company will begin its eighth season with a new devised work, The Forever Quest. In a chaotic, unpredictable word, the greatest gift we can bestow on children is resiliency. The Forever Quest, Cry Havoc’s first production made by teens for young audiences ages 6 and up, will explore the importance of friends, one’s chosen family, and trust in one’s own abilities. The production will be at South Dallas Cultural Center through January 15.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Ravel + Urioste"
In the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's latest concert, Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s rhapsodic violin concerto will be played by the young Mexican-American violinist Elena Urioste. The remainder of the concert, playing at Meyerson Symphony Center through Sunday, features the great French composer Maurice Ravel in some of his most colorful orchestral works, including his hypnotic, ever-expanding Boléro.

Saturday, January 8

Plano Metropolitan Ballet presents Aladdin
Plano Metropolitan Ballet presents its annual fairy tale ballet Aladdin, a story of mystery, thrill, and beauty all told via the wonders of original ballet choreography. There will be five public performances of the ballet through January 22 at Courtyard Theater in Plano.

Irving Arts Center presents Elvis Birthday Concert with Kraig Parker & the Royal Tribute Band
It may be hard to believe, but Saturday marks what would have been Elvis Presley's 85th birthday. To celebrate the King's day, Irving Arts Center will put on this special concert featuring Kraig Parker, who has been hailed as the ultimate image of Presley. Backed by a 10-piece group, the Royal Tribute Band, Parker looks and sounds just like the king of rock 'n’ roll with his powerful voice, electric moves, and charisma.

Sunday, January 9

Dallas Museum of Art closings
The Dallas Museum of Art will close two exhibitions on Sunday. "Point, Line, Plane: The William Jordan and Robert Brownlee Bequest" honors a gift from the estate of distinguished art historian William B. Jordan and his husband, Robert Dean Brownlee, highlighting a selection of nearly 70 works donated to the DMA by Jordan and Brownlee. "Pursuit of Beauty: The May Family Collection" offers a look at the exemplary Dallas-based collection of American art that was built over nearly 60 years by Thomas and Eleanor May and their children, featuring works by influential artists like Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent.

Plano Metropolitan Ballet presents Aladdin at Courtyard Theater, January 8-22.

Photo by Stephanie Fease

Plano Metropolitan Ballet presents Aladdin at Courtyard Theater, January 8-22.

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Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising

Photo by Betina La Plante/Focus Features

Andrew Garfield in The Uprising.

Writer/director Paul Greengrass made his name with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking that brought immediacy and depth to three Jason Bourne films, United 93, Captain Phillips, and more. In The Uprising, he uses those skills to tell the story of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England.

Greengrass wastes no time starting the main plot as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and his fellow villagers object to onerous taxes put on them by the country’s nobility, led by the young King Richard II (Woody Norman), to fund an ongoing war. Ploughman initiates a violent response over the tone-deaf — and unseemly — way the king’s guard go about their business, and the rebellion soon starts to spread across the countryside, with the citizens looking for a degree of autonomy.

The ever-expanding group makes their way toward London to try to make their case to the king himself. Meanwhile, the king’s top advisors, including Archbishop Sudbury (Stephen Dillane) and Treasurer Hales (Tom Hollander), try to usurp power from the inexperienced monarch even as the king’s mother (Katherine Waterston) tries to get him to be more assertive.

The history of the English monarchy is long and lurid, as Shakespeare detailed in multiple plays, including Richard II. Though the events in the film took place almost 650 years ago, it’s easy to see parallels between what the peasants were fighting for and modern-day politics. Greengrass’ storytelling intent is solid, and the righteous anger the citizens feel is initially relatable and palpable.

But the populism theme of the story soon gets bogged down in drudgery and minutiae that is difficult to understand, especially when the details are lost in the thick regional English accents. The leaders of the rebels — including John Ball (Jamie Bell), Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), and Alyce (Thomasin McKenzie) — are shown doing a lot of planning, but the strong feelings they have about their quest don’t come across well, leaving the audience as passive observers.

When there is action, Greengrass and his team employ a frenetic style that is not great for comprehension. While the gist of what is happening and what side is winning is legible, individual moments go by so quickly so as to be nearly meaningless. Save for Ploughman, any connection that has been made with various characters proves futile, as Greengrass doesn’t seem to have any time for emotion. Scenes that should feel thrilling or heartbreaking instead come off as empty.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who has done great work across multiple genres. He’s fine in this role, but whether it’s the story, the filmmaking, or something else, he’s not as captivating as usual. The same goes for other strong actors like Bell, McKenzie, Dillane, Hollander, and Waterston, who each seem to be giving their all to their performances but are somehow muted in the process.

Done right, The Uprising could have been a rip-roaring account of people standing up against their oppressors. What Greengrass has made, though, is a film that can’t translate its medieval story for a modern audience and concentrates too much on unexciting elements and too little on thrilling ones.

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The Uprising is now playing in theaters.

movies film reviews

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Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising