Sun. Feb. 11

When Joan MacIntosh, who plays Aggripina in Jean Racine's "Britannicus" at the American Repertory Theatre, first looked at the play, she admits she was a more than a bit daunted. "It seemed like a wall of words on the page," she says. "At first, I couldn't find a way in so that I could understand the story and what was happening. I went on-line and did as much research as I could on Aggripina because her life was so extraordinary." But one of the reasons she took the play was plain and simple: "I wanted to work with (outgoing artistic director) Robert Woodruff. I've known him 35 years, never worked with him and this was an opportunity to collaborate."
Racine wrote "Britannicus" in 1669 in the days of Louix XIV. The scheming, power-mad figures of ancient Rome bore some relation to the goings on of that era, just as it does today. "We're covering three times spans," says MacIntosh. "When I'm playing the role I let all three resonate." (A large-lettered banner "EMPIRE CREATES IT'S OWN REALITY" hangs in back - Woodruff heard the words from a spokesman from the Bush administration.)"Britannicus" is a tangled web of blood ties, betrayal and murder. At the core of it, Aggripina married and killed Claudius, birthed Nero, and faces her son in a power showdown, after Nero has eliminated Britannicus' claim to the throne. When MacIntosh discusses her character and the others in the play she uses terms such as "savageness," "moroseness" and "rage." The world they inhabit? insanely vicious, evil." Her character, MacIntosh says, was "considered to be the smartest person alive, one of the reasons Claudius married her."

ongoing

This is not going to come as a huge surprise to regular readers, but we're fans of the Dixie Chicks. We were before Natalie Maines made her Bush-knockin' comment in London (2003), and we were more so afterwards as mainstream/flag-waving America turned against them. The country hadn't figured out the quagmire we were in in Iraq yet - we were still looking for those darn WMDs - and conservative country radio stations banned the band - like Natalie was pulling a John Lennon by saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. (Actually, we think John may have been right at that point, too, though Jesus had 20 centuries of endurance on his side.) Anyway, filmmakers Barbara Koppel and Cecilia Peck - uppity women, no doubt - followed the Chicks on a three year sojourn post-flap. They take you front and center; they take you backstage. And they show you a band with roots, guts and spunk. One that writes damn fine songs, too. "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing" is a winner. (Title: A clever knockoff of Pearl Harbour and the Explosions' "Shut Up and Dance.")  It's at the Coolidge Corner Theatre's screening room - that's the small box upstairs - at least through Feb 1. Shows at 2:15, 5:45, and 7:35 p.m. most days. Check website for particulars.  Tickets: $9.

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2500 coolidge.org

ongoing-Feb. 28

Whoever got the idea that Harvard Film Archive was an ambitious, high-minded outfit? The kind of spot that would screen intellectual films that might not find much of an audience outside Harvard Square? Well, many of us. And some of that's true, but HFA breaks from, a bit, from form Feb. 6-28 for a series called "Poetic Horror, Pop Existentialism and Cheap Sci-Fi: Cold War Cinema 1948-1964." It's curated by one of our favorite critic's J Hoberman of the Village Voice and the eight-film series captures the tensions of post-World War II America, with films such as Irving Lerner's "City of Fear" (which starts it off Tuesday Feb. 6 at 9 p.m.),and includes "The Third Man" (Feb. 21, 7 p.m.) and "Invasion U.S.A." by Alfred E. Green, shot on a shoestring budget and centered on a lounge where a strange brandy drinking visitor in a bar questions the patrons on their thoughts about US foreign policy. And then news arrives! The west coast is being attacked! Hoberman's series is clearly meant to cover a range of thought, employing Brian Eno's dictate that there is no high or low art or culture, just art and culture. Personal note: I was pretty certain, especially after Barry Goldwater got the Republican nod for president in 1964, that we were all doomed anyway and I'd never even hit puberty. Then again, I thought I'd never travel to London when Reagan was elected, and that happened too. I still think the world will end in a massive ball of destruction, but I'm glad it's been staved off so far. I don't at all mind re-living past scares, because the scares of the past are just the scares of the future - maybe in black and white, maybe a little kitschy, but all tugging at the same human desire: survival. And the little jolt we get from being scared. Tickets: $8. Check website below for specific films and times.

24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 617-495-4700 harvard.edu/hfa

 Sun. Feb. 11

It's the largest consumer wine event in the whole country and it's in its 16th year here in Boston at the Seaport World Trade Center and Hotel. If you're a wine-head - we're not sure that's the proper term, but it'll do - you'll be right there. and the Boston Wine Expo. If you're curious, but not a devotee, you might just be intimidated. Don't be says Gloria Maroti Frazee, director of education and video for the co-sponsoring Wine Spectator. "It's a little placating to say, but wine is fun," she says. "It's just a choice, appreciate it at whatever level you're at." Her comparison: She had knowledgable friends who go to the symphony and understand the intricacies of the compositions. She doesn't. But she still enjoys it. Fair enough. "I haven't wasted my money on a ticket," she says. Example two: "My husband likes mustard. I love my husband. I love catsup. That's ok." The two-day wine festival wraps up Sunday Feb. 11. The New York-based Frazee will be speaking at two hour-90-minute seminars. (Cost: $50). "It will be wine and food pairings," she says. "The idea is to get different combinations in different people's mouths and talk about what they like and how to make pairings they'll like in the future." Frazee has spend twenty years as a wine lover - she started collecting in 1987 - and has spent the last ten in the professional end of that world. She's worked in wineries, "gotten my nose stuck in a lot of good bottles." Of the seminars, "I always learn from the audience. There's that 'a-ha' moment."
You can expect 20,000 people to pass through the Trade Center and Hotel this weekend sampling wines from 440 domestic and international wineries. They'll be sampling the wares of those ubiquitous "celebrity chefs" - 14 of them during a Grand Tasting in the Exhibition Hall.  It runs from 1-5 p.m. each day. Note: Over $700,000 has been contributed to 27 charities over the years. Each day's admission is $70.

200 Seaport Blvd., 877-496-3976 wine-expos.com

Sun. Feb. 11

 It was our first time inside the new New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, and after a few false starts - we first went to their offices on Dexter Ave., not the theater itself on Arsenal St. - we found ourselves inside a beautiful white-walled space. Entering the theater proper, we walked on the fringe of a desolate "Road Warrior"-like outback and through a cloud chemical haze. Clearly, doom and gloom were ahead. But laughs, too.  The play is "Silence," written by British playwright Moria Buffini and the winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Directed by New Rep artistic director Rick Lombardo, it's a Dark Ages sex comedy gender bender and a half-serious/half-farcical romp through the worlds of kings, queens and peasants. Lewis Wheeler as King Ethelred spends a lot of time being tyrannical, miserable or wet - one act has him chained in his own dungeon, and semi-drenched. The plot has to do with the marrying off of the young boy prince of Cumbria, Silence (Emily Sproch), to a banished noblewoman named Ymma (Marianna Bassham). Complications ensue from the get-go, though the "Crying Game" surprise won't be too big a one for anyone paying even scant attention.

It opens with Ymma barfing into a well, and, be prepared, there's a lot of bawdy humor and references to bodily fluids. There's a lot of "bigness" in this play - overwrought emotion seems to rule the day - and Roger the priest behaves in a manner with which Bostonians may be sadly familiar. The set is striking, the acting strong. It is, though, a long, somewhat taxing play - about three hours counting intermission - and there comes a few points where you tire of the intricacies and multiple story lines, to say nothing of the king's winge-ing. But "Silence" is an intriguing beast for all the issues it raises, many of which are as pertinent now as they were way back when. Tickets: $50-$31. Today, Sunday Feb. 11 is the last day of performances. It[s a matinee, up at 2 p.m.

321 Arsenal St., Watertown, 617923-8487 newrep.org