The Earl, The Inconvenience at Red Orchid, extended through March 2. You’d never guess it was Brett Neveu supplying the ultra-violence in this Shepardesque fable of boys’ games after the toys have gotten bigger and deadlier. Danny Goldring steals the show as a Dirty Harry-like hero they don’t make any more. MSB
In Darfur, TimeLine Theatre, through March 20. This compelling drama about the recent genocide in Sudan masterfully shows the different agendas of people who are trying their utmost to help out in an impossible and deadly situation. SCM
Lakeboat, Steep Theatre, through Feb. 26. You’ll find no thrilling adventures on a freighter carrying steel from Duluth to Chicago, but a young David Mamet captures the poetry of the inland seas and the men whose lives are bound to its watery mysteries. MSB
Travels with my Aunt, Writers’ Theatre, through March 27. This intimate work of theatrical fabulosity, adapted from Graham Greene’s comic novel, is visually and verbally stylish. Its dazzling four-man cast all play the Aunt, and everyone else! Don’t miss. JA
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge
and Morgan