Unholy nights on Twin Cities stages with Harold Pinter and Bradley Greenwald

What do you think? Is "The Hothouse" counter holiday programming? It's a Harold Pinter play that takes place in a nameless institution. The story, such as it is with Pinter, deals with death, sexual assault, opaque power structures and seething minions.

Wow, not a lot of holiday in that.

But! "The Hothouse" is set on Christmas Day! Can't you almost smell the pine cones through the Orwellian dread?

"Technically, it's a holiday play," said Sara Marsh, the artistic director of Dark & Stormy Productions, which opens the regional premiere of "The Hothouse" on Friday at the Grain Belt Bottling House in northeast Minneapolis.

Marsh, who also acts in Dark & Stormy's all-Equity cast, said Pinter's rarely done play appealed to her desire for something darkly ambiguous with an askew sensibility that would spark curiosity in audiences.

"When we read this play in July, everybody got something different from it," she said. "We talked about it for several hours, and that is the kind of thing I want."

Pinter wrote the play in 1958 and put it on a shelf for 20 years before directing the first production in London. It's been revived with major productions a few times, mostly in England. Ben McGovern directs Dark & Stormy's staging.

"Pinter does a great job of sugaring the pill," she said. "It's a little vaudevillian at times."

Marsh will be joined on stage by Robert Dorfman, Bruce Bohne, Mark Benninghofen, Bill McCallum and John Catron. It's a rather stunning array of talent, given Dark & Stormy's modest size. Marsh said she is philosophically committed to hiring union talent and feels the challenge elevates everyone's game.

The Bottling House gives Dark & Stormy an appropriately cold vibe for its production — with harsh sound, hard floors and walls and interesting perspectives, such as a mezzanine that surrounds the room.

Too, audience members will be given listening-device headsets. (Dark & Stormy sells about 60 tickets a show.) Marsh said she believes that this will clarify the sound and give the audience an experience of "a filmic quality."

"It's the eighth character in the play," Marsh said of the echoey Bottling House atrium.

With apologies to any and all deities — living, dead or resurrected — the real reason for the season is the solstice. Before any religious, state or social holiday ignited this dark and cold time as a moment of celebration in the Northern Hemisphere, ancient peoples commemorated the longest night of the year and hoped for the return of the sun and the warmth of the earth. It's just science.

Bradley Greenwald, the actor and singer, started this little show last year, and he has returned to Open Eye Figure Theatre in Minneapolis. Pianist Sonja Thompson accompanies Greenwald through a program of show, classical and popular tunes focused on this most mysterious time of year. Greenwald also reads selections from Margaret Atwood, Joseph Campbell and Ogden Nash.

Greenwald muses on seasonal affective disorder, religious rituals, holidays and the eternal clock that brings us back to the longest night each year.

7:30 p.m. Fri.-Mon., plus 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Dec. 21 • 506 E. 24th St., Mpls. • $18-$24 • 612-874-6338 • www.brownpapertickets.com

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299