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When the world is topsy-turvy, the theatergoing public seeks explanations. Arthur Miller provides something better: moral intelligence. He doesn’t tell his audience what to think but challenges them to think harder.

There’s clearly a hunger right now for Miller’s work. His plays are back in high demand in Los Angeles, New York and London.

A new revival of “Death of a Salesman,” starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, is in previews on Broadway. And a less starry production of Miller’s masterpiece opened last weekend at Pasadena’s A Noise Within.

“All My Sons,” Miller’s breakthrough play about capitalism’s warped ethics in the guise of a domestic drama, just finished a successful run at Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale. And National Theatre Live will screen the recent London production, starring Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, in April and May courtesy of Boston Court Pasadena and L.A. Theatre Works. (Late last year, I caught a screening at the Wallis of another London revival, the 2019 production starring Bill Pullman and Sally Field.)

Dana Dewes and Scott G. Jackson in “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice.

(Ian Cardamone)

“A View From the Bridge,” a play whose revenge plot hinges on a tip to immigration authorities, could hardly be more timely. The same could just as unnervingly be said about “The Crucible,” Miller’s parable about the McCarthy witch hunts. The play, always front of mind when power is being abused, has given rise to a modern feminist riposte, Kimberly Belflower’s thrilling “John Proctor Is the Villain,” which is coming to the Mark Taper Forum next year.

Not to be missed right now is a small, exquisitely acted production of “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre. Miller’s 1968 play, written during the agonizing days of the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate. As two estranged brothers working with an 89-year-old appraiser try to put a price on the antiques and personal effects their father — a casualty of the Great Depression — left behind, the family history they both tried to bury explodes.

Miller’s plays compel theatergoers to connect the dots not only between the past and the present but also between the political and the personal. His dramas set domestic conflicts against the backdrop of societal systems that insidiously warp the playing field for their characters.

Miller is often contrasted with Tennessee Williams. And while it’s true that Miller is more of a social realist and Williams is more of a dramatic poet, Miller’s carefully carpentered plays are emotionally supple and Williams’ lyrical dramas are acutely mindful of the power dynamics of our collective life.

The realism of “The Price” is as heavy as the old wooden furniture that the Franz brothers, Victor (Scott G. Jackson) and Walter (Jason Huber), are trying to profitably offload.

(Ian Cardamone)

Director Elia Kazan was drawn to both playwrights because he understood that they were as interested in the stories of individual Americans as they were in the larger tale of America itself. Kazan found in both writers more than enough poetry and grit to satisfy the new breed of realistic actor he was showcasing on stage and screen.

“Death of a Salesman” and “The Price” are vastly different plays. The former, which Miller once considered calling “The Inside of His Head,” is fluidly constructed, playing fast and loose with time as it tracks the disintegrating mental life of down-and-out salesman Willy Loman. “The Price,” by contrast, is set inside what looks at first glance to be a crowded antique shop but turns out to be the apartment once inhabited by the Franz family after the market crash changed everything.

The realism of “The Price” is as heavy as the old wooden furniture (stacked and sorted on Rich Rose’s eye-catching set) that the Franz brothers, Victor (Scott G. Jackson) and Walter (Jason Huber), are trying to profitably offload on a shrewd antique dealer named Gregory Solomon (Richard Fancy). “Salesman” is more limber in its dramaturgy, shifting locations and blurring chronologies. But it too depends on the ability of actors to embody the biographical weight of its finely detailed characters.

Arthur Miller’s 1968 play “The Price,” written during the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate.

(Ian Cardamone)

“The Price,” directed by Elina de Santos, thrives in the intimacy of Pacific Resident Theatre’s main stage. There’s not a moment in the play that isn’t deeply inhabited by a cast that understands the value of listening.

The drama builds toward a confrontation between Victor, a cop who dropped out of college to support his dad, and Walter, a wealthy doctor who made no such sacrifices and resents the guilt that he’s spent a lifetime trying to elude. Miller gives both characters some claim on the truth, making the twisting argument that breaks out between the brothers enthralling to follow.

But just as insightfully handled are the complicated emotional dynamics between Victor and his wife, Esther (Dana Dewes), who is frustrated by her husband’s resignation and blunted ambition but loyal to him and prepared to fight for his due. As for Solomon, the scene-stealing appraiser who dispenses old world wisdom while toting up an estimate for the furniture haul in between bites of a hard-boiled egg, is deliciously brought to life by Fancy, who has starred in both “All My Sons” and “Death of a Salesman” at PRT and enlivens this production with his veteran experience.

I saw “The Price” on Sunday after having been dismally disappointed at the Saturday night opening of “Death of a Salesman” at A Noise Within. That production, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, seems completely deracinated on a set by Frederica Nascimento that registers no Brooklyn ZIP Code or locatable address anywhere.

Deborah Strang, Ian Littleworth, David Nevell and Geoff Elliott in “Death of a Salesman” at A Noise Within.

(Craig Schwartz)

But the bigger problem is that the performances are ungrounded. Geoff Elliott, who shares the title of producing artistic director at A Noise Within with wife Rodriguez-Elliott, doesn’t so much play Willy Loman as try on various accents, none of them remotely convincing to this native Brooklynite. Are the Lomans meant to be Irish immigrants or is that a Boston dialect that is being affected when the cartoonish New Yorkese takes a breather?

The house needn’t be fleshed out to be made to seem real, but since it plays such an important role in the play, its presence onstage ought to at least be palpable to the characters. At one point near the play’s tragic climax, Willy is feverishly planting seeds in the backyard, but Elliott gives no credibility to any of his character’s actions. Willy might as well be delivering newspapers or mopping the kitchen floor, so disconnected are his gestures.

It’s true he’s not in his right mind, but it’s just another instance of the casual disregard of the character’s moment-to-moment reality. Willy’s world never comes into being onstage, and the rest of the cast seems to wander in the limbo that’s left behind.

“Death of a Salesman” is more limber in its dramaturgy, shifting locations and blurring chronologies.

(Craig Schwartz)

As Linda Loman, Deborah Strang, normally so reliable, tries to follow the lead of husband Willy, but that turns out to be a dead end. Ian Littleworth’s Happy, the dissolute son always looking for an easy way out, seems unsettled not only in his bearings but in his command of the script.

David Kepner’s Biff, the prodigal son who rediscovers the reasons he ran off in the first place, delivers the most centered performance. It’s at least possible to believe what his character is supposed to be feeling, but the placelessness of the production doesn’t give him enough to dig into. The emotional combustion of his climactic scenes with Willy fail to reach cathartic levels.

Still, I found myself listening attentively to the warning Miller was issuing about buying into the salesman ethos. Willy’s belief that good connections matter more than skill and that blarney and bluff can substitute for hard work explains a good deal about our current national disorder.

David Kepner, who delivers the most centered performance, and Ian Littleworth in “Death of a Salesman.”

(Craig Schwartz)

But Miller’s dramatic vision requires actors to relive the experiences of their characters, the way they do in De Santos’ production. “The Price” might not be an indisputable masterpiece like “Death of a Salesman,” but its solid construction reveals tremendous complexity when the human story is scrupulously observed and the societal forces shaping our lives are suddenly thrust into view.

Former US Open champion Michelle Wie West says she is coming out of retirement to play at the major later this year.

West is a five-time winner on the LGPA Tour with her sole major triumph coming at Pinehurst in 2014.

The 36-year-old last competed on the Tour at the US Open three years ago, but aims to play again at the major, which begins on 4 June in Pacific Palisades, California, to make use of her final year of eligibility.

Players who win the US Open are invited back to compete for the following 10 years, but Wie West’s stint was extended by two years to 2026 due to maternity leave.

“With one final year of eligibility from my victory in 2014 and the championship headed to an iconic venue that means so much to me, I am excited to announce that I’ll be teeing it up at the US.Women’s Open at Riviera in June,” she wrote on X.

Wie West rose to prominence at an early age and was once tipped to emulate men’s 15-time major-winner Tiger Woods’ sporting success.

She was the youngest to win an adult USGA championship at 13, and the youngest to make the cut at an LPGA major in the 2003 Kraft Nabisco, aged 14.

After more than 20 years in the spotlight, Wie West, who has two children, left the sport adding that her body was struggling to cope with the rigours of professional golf.

Wie West’s return to the Tour follows her announcement in February that she will be competing in the women’s version of the TGL at the end of the year.

A dream team has assembled to bring a scripted series based on the book “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story” from the drawing board to the small screen.

Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern has signed on to portray Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, whose tireless reporting on the Epstein sex-trafficking case exposed how federal prosecutors approved what many have referred to as a “sweetheart” plea deal for Epstein in 2008.

Per Variety, the official description of the series reads: “An explosive account of an investigative reporter exposing the secret plea deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors. Drawing from Brown’s experience as a groundbreaking reporter for the Miami Herald, the book and the limited series follow her relentless years-long investigation that identified 80 victims, persuaded key survivors to go on the record, and led to Epstein[‘s] and Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrests.”

In 2008, the financier was charged with luring underage girls to his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion for sex. Under the plea agreement with then-U.S. Atty. for the Southern District of Florida Alexander Acosta, Epstein avoided a federal trial — where, if convicted, he could have faced a potential sentence of life in prison — and pleaded guilty instead to two state felony solicitation charges.

He served 13 months in a county jail but was allowed to go to his office six days a week on a work-release program.

Co-showrunners for the project are Eileen Myers, known for “American Hostage,” and Sharon Hoffman, best known for her work on “House of Cards” and who is adapting Brown’s book for television. Dern will also executive produce, along with Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, known for “The Big Short,” “Don’t Look Up” and “Succession.” Brown is also executive producing.

Although Sony Pictures Television is still pitching the series to networks and streamers, industry insiders predict that, with Dern and McKay on board, a green light is on the horizon.

Last week, Brown joined veteran journalist Katie Couric live on Substack to discuss her reporting on Epstein, and how the disgraced financier and his camp underestimated her. “I don’t think he worried about the little old reporter from the Miami Herald,” she said.

“When you have a sex predator of children who is — at the time I wrote this story, he was out there, you know, he was free — and he was still, as we now know, harming children,” Brown told Couric. “And so my goal at the time was to look at how this happened.

“Where was the breakdown? Was there someone who … was powerful who let him off the hook, and I just thought it was a good time to take a new look at it like a cold case detective would.

“By the time I decided to reopen the case, these women, these victims who were 13, 14, 15 years old, were now in their late 20s and early 30s, and Donald Trump became president right around this time. And ironically, as I was already looking at this story, he nominated Alexander Acosta to be his Labor secretary, and I knew at the time that he was the very person who had let [Epstein] off the hook. And so that’s where I started looking at this case.”

A video published by a Palestinian content creator shows a group of children carefully lifting their doll on a stretcher to reenact a funeral as they play together in a displacement camp in Gaza.

It’s clear that “Forbidden Fruits” director and co-writer Meredith Alloway has marinated in plenty of ’90s teen movies and the kitschy pop-culture ephemera of that era. Her directorial debut, written with Lily Houghton and based on Houghton’s play “Of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die,” is essentially a synthesis of “The Craft,” “Mean Girls” and “Clueless,” about a coven of catty witches who work at a boutique in a Texas mall.

But in “Forbidden Fruits,” it’s hard to shake the feeling that Alloway’s movie knowledge is just that — easily identifiable iconography without much innovation or depth.

Our clique comes storming down the mall food court in that classic slow-motion strut, letting us know right away what we’re in for. They’re known as the Fruits because they all happen to be named after them. The leader, Apple (Lili Reinhart), operates in the controlling mode of Regina George or Cher Horowitz; her lackeys are alt queen Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and blond bimbo Cherry (Victoria Pedretti). When they realize that a cute pretzel purveyor is named Pumpkin (Lola Tung), they quickly bring her into their circle as a fourth, seemingly only because her name fits the theme.

Apple runs her high-femme coven out of their store Free Eden with an emphasis on iconic women: The girls confess to their martyr Marilyn Monroe in a dressing room and practice dark magic with their panties and a silver cowboy boot. In the interest of helping each other “shine,” Apple also takes a page from Ann Lee and the Shakers — sex and boys are banned and communication is highly controlled.

It’s only when Pumpkin starts uncovering some of the coven’s secrets, including the existence of a former member named Pickle (Emma Chamberlain), that their controversial personal histories involving hexes, poison, fires and hidden boyfriends come to light, and the situation spirals out of control (literally — the climax happens during a tornado).

Alloway and cinematographer Karim Hussain craft a distinctive and unique aesthetic, a gauzy, highly artificial look that underlines the winky referential tone, but one that also lends “Forbidden Fruits” a strangely dreamlike quality that doesn’t always work for the genre.

While the actors, particularly Reinhart and Pedretti, are locked in with the tone and Reinhart delivers the fierceness required of such a role, the pace of “Forbidden Fruits” is at odds with the performers. The film is weirdly slow and sleepy and at least 20 minutes too long. The convoluted story, peppered with various twists, lacks momentum.

A stronger hand in the edit could have resulted in something more dynamic and engaging, but the plotting is mushy and then rushed. For a witchy horror thriller, it’s heavier on psychological violence than actual scares, and a third-act bloodbath and big reveal can’t save it when we finally get there.

The film’s theatrical provenance reveals itself in long monologues in the Marilyn confessional room and Pedretti delivers one that reveals the depth beyond Cherry’s ditzy exterior. We can see Houghton’s play in these moments, but then Alloway’s cheeky pop sensibility intervenes, the arch artificiality and ironic tone draining the emotional impact.

“Forbidden Fruits” can’t reconcile all of its influences and just ends up as a collection of references and high style without much staying power — it’s essentially the fast fashion of girly pop horror.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Kicking off the upcoming season at the Mark Taper Forum — which recently celebrated its top-grossing musical ever with “Here Lies Love” — is the world premiere of Zack Zadek’s original musical “The Turning,” a folk thriller set in California’s Sequoia groves.

The show, said Center Theatre Group’s artistic director Snehal Desai as the company announces its 2026-27 slate of performances, has a “very L.A. vibe.”

Next up is a batch of shows meant to provide audiences some comedic relief amid a midterm season that’s sure to sow anxiety: Karen Zacarías’ “Destiny of Desire,” Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!” and the family-favorite “Dog Man: The Musical.” Then in the spirit of springtime renewal, thought-provoking plays like “John Proctor Is the Villain” and “Fences” will leave audiences in contemplation before festive summer item “Boop! The Musical” swoops in to lift spirits.

When Desai plans the company’s season lineup, he always surveys the year ahead — literally.

“I look at the calendar a lot as to, where do we think we’re gonna be a year from now? Six to eight months from now?” Desai said in a recent interview at his office in downtown L.A.

Some entries in Center Theatre Group’s upcoming season are scheduled intuitively, like the Mischief Comedy team’s “Christmas Carol Goes Wrong,” running in the thick of the holiday season. But with others, Desai said he orchestrated the lineup to tell a programmatic story, like an artist might order tracks on an album.

As an artistic director, Desai said, he always encourages visitors: “Join us all season, versus just coming for the things you like,” and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

This year as Desai consulted his calendar, he looked even farther ahead than usual, toward Center Theatre Group’s 60th anniversary season (2027-28) and the L.A. Olympics in 2028.

“We were having conversations of, what are the plays that we want to do or we want to bring back,” Desai said, when the theater company’s associate artistic director Lindsay Allbaugh suggested “Fences,” the final play of August Wilson’s acclaimed Century Cycle to be staged at Center Theatre Group.

“I said, ‘Oh, that’s what we want,’” Desai said, “both to end this season and kick off our 60th.”

The artistic director could not yet confirm who would direct the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a former Negro League baseball player and his family navigating life in 1950s segregated Pittsburgh.

Desai, who has not shied away from politically charged material during his tenure at the theater company, said Wilson’s play aligned with his intent this season to platform work “asking who we are as a country and as a community and society.”

“I wanted voices that felt bold and fearless, that were both outspoken and unafraid in a world where, right now, it feels like there’s a lot of things that are trying to stifle us from speaking out or coming together,” he said. To him, presenting “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish is revolutionary, as is “John Proctor Is the Villain’s” dissection of a classic through a feminist lens.

Desai added that he planned to balance that rabble-rousing spirit with productions that leaned more “celebratory and communal” and provided “different ways of having catharsis.”

“Oh, Mary!” offers riotous fun, and “Destiny of Desire” is an homage to an oft-dismissed yet widely consumed medium, the telenovela.

“With ‘Destiny,’ you’re able to take that format of something that people often watch in isolation at home, and enjoy it together,” Desai said.

Regional theater faces a slew of challenges: rising production and personnel costs, post-pandemic audience declines and competition from digital media. The situation has felt particularly bleak in L.A., Desai said, as seeming moments of recovery in the past year or so were squashed by the L.A. wildfires, then last summer’s immigration crackdown and associated civil unrest.

“We just constantly live in this time period that feels like we’re on shifting sands,” Desai said. Nonetheless, the company is finding paths through the desert, including with alternative programming through CTG: FWD.

The CTG: FWD initiative this season will bring “Riverdance 30 – The New Generation,” “Clue” and “The Music Man” to the Ahmanson Theatre, and “Dog Man” to the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Another strategy Desai said the theater company has employed is heavy investment in new works development, particularly new musical development. New works are time-and resource-intensive, Desai said, but they’re also good investments, offering the best chances at longevity and commercial prospects.

With “The Turning,” Center Theatre Group spotlights an emerging voice that Desai said represents “the future of American theater.”

After Desai was introduced to Zadek’s folksy musical “The Turning,” he said, “I just kept listening to it over and over again. I was like, ‘I can’t wait for the cast recording of this to be on Spotify.’”

The artistic director was also thrilled to find an ultra-rare gem in Zadek’s piece: a truly original story.

“A lot of things are adaptations these days: adaptations of films, of TV shows,” Desai said. “So to get a world premiere musical that is based on its own original concept — that, I found, was really compelling.”

Following back-to-back seasons of directing his own productions, Desai is taking a breather this go-around to focus on broader administrative duties. But he still hopes to be a resource for visiting directors learning how to navigate the “special space” that is the Mark Taper Forum — and its neighbors the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre, which will get its own season announcement in the spring or early summer.

See the full season, here.

Gerald Barry is today’s rare opera composer with a draught-dry wit. Is there such a thing as a soaking wet wit, the opposite of the parched variety, because he has that, too. He is Irish. He has some Beckett in him. And a helping of Oscar Wilde.

At the behest of British composer Thomas Adès, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has given, over the past 20 years, the U.S. or world premieres of four Barry operas in its Green Umbrella new music series, all conducted by Adès. The first, “The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit,” seemed to take zaniness to outlandish operatic extremes, which led to the orchestra commissioning the next three. “The Importance of Being Ernest” and “Alice’s Adventures Underground,” in 2011 and 2016 respectively, proved each funnier and more outrageous musical spectacle than the last.

On Tuesday night, the L.A. Phil New Music Group and a cast of extraordinary singers gave the U.S. premiere of “Salome” at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Here we go again.

The description by the composer (who is also his librettist) can hardly be bettered. He has cut Wilde’s play by about half. And, in that half, explored another less knowable side of the moon represented by Richard Strauss’ well-known “Salome,” which helped usher in 20th-century operatic modernism. Barry says his “Salome” is “an opera of voyeurism, the moon, French, God, punishment of sin, misunderstanding, sex, the metronome, suicide, hysteria, hunger, blood, typing, speaking correctly, sterility, ‘The Blue Danube,’ fever, art, Wilde, dreaming, beheading, Frankenstein, kissing.”

No nudity, though, and no dance. Salome is a typist. Her dance of the seven veils is sexy typing.

Barry begins where Wilde begins and Strauss (who follows the original play closely) with a pair of soldiers in Herod’s court peering at the moon, one moonstruck by the beauty of Herod’s daughter Salome. Salome has other ideas. She’s taken, perversely, with John the Baptist, imprisoned in a cistern and prophesying doom for the decadent, Godless heathens, Salome in particular. All of this readily registers on Barry’s Dada-absurdity meter.

Even so, Barry has an oracular outlook. He goes in for proclamatory melody, each note an event, when punched out by brass and lower string like hammering spikes in the ground. Harmonies can be raw. There is a Stravinskyan quality, but nothing is ever predictable.

The orchestral introduction to “Salome” is like that. But it gets screwy fast. Other than Salome, the characters are not named, rather treated as types. John the Baptist is The Prisoner. Herod and Herodias are The King and The Queen. All have some Alice in a different wonderland about them.

The Prisoner could be straight out of a Godard film. He speaks only French (Wilde’s play was first published in French in 1893). He speaks more than he sings and finds outrage everywhere he looks. The surtitles intentionally refrain from translating much of what he says, leaving the audience to rely on his loony spoken tone and loony tunes to carry meaning. His way of impatiently rebuffing Salome’s inappropriate advances is to give her singing lessons.

That’s the last thing she needs. Her part, like that of Alice in Barry’s previous opera, is enlivened by delightfully squeaky high notes in unexpected places. She’s Barbie with exceptional smarts and grotesque sexual fantasies. Soprano Alison Scherzer, who has starred in Barry’s other operas and in Adès’ “Powder Her Face,” is spectacular.

Everyone is odd. The half-crazed King, magnificently sung by the ever-disruptive Timur, lusts after Salome by speaking and singing at different speeds he selects on a metronome, as he entices her to type for him. When she first refuses, the King has everyone sing “The Blue Danube,” because that’s what you do when Salome won’t sexy type for you.

Sara Hershkowitz’s wildly contemptuous Queen adds further soprano glory. The baritone, Vincent Casagrande, a marvelously cantankerous Prisoner, tells us only sick people dream, and of course everyone on stage automatically enters a dream state.

The shock of Wilde’s play, amplified in Strauss’ opera, is the sheer horror of Salome demanding as a reward for her striptease the decapitated head of the prophet, whose bloody lips she desires to kiss. In this case, her typing, which is accompanied by the two soldiers (Justin Hopkins and Karl Huml) on their own typewriters, leads to a dismemberment Frankenstein-style. The ghoulish ending is not unhappy.

Barry’s score remains as uncanny as his sense of drama. He plays with our senses of normality. He frequently uses the instrumentalists in the chamber orchestra like theatrical characters. The ensemble contradicts the singers but also eggs them on. Adès, who has his own unpredictably whimsical side, conducts as though he had written the score himself and shares his pleasure with every delightful effect.

The premiere of “Salome,” intended for 2021 in Disney, was disrupted by the pandemic. The first performance, then, became a staging in Magdeburg, Germany, last year. Barry said Tuesday in the pre-concert Upbeat Live that he is often happier with concert performances, like at this Green Umbrella. He has good reason.

The magic of this “Salome” is its transcendence of silliness into acceptance. When presented without theatrical aspect but as a private process of the imagination, it becomes a lavishly lovable antidote to our too often accepting the world’s absurdity only as dooms-scrollable tragedy.

Italy beat Northern Ireland 2-0 to boost their bid to reach a men’s World Cup for the first time since 2014, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Poland, Turkiye, Kosovo, the Czech Republic and Denmark also won their European playoff semifinals.

Four-time champions Italy, who lost out in the playoffs for the 2018 and 2022 editions, travel to Bosnia on Tuesday for the final, knowing a win will send them to June and July’s tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Sandro Tonali blasted in superbly from the edge of the box in the second half of a nervous one-off semifinal in Bergamo on Thursday before Moise Kean made the game safe.

“We made life a bit difficult for ourselves, but in the second half we found our rhythm,” Italy coach and 2006 champion Gennaro Gattuso said. “Now we’re going to play this final. We know it’s difficult. The tension we feel will be felt by our opponents, too.”

Bosnia overcame Wales on penalties in Cardiff following a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Daniel James used his pace to score early in the second period for the hosts, and Karl Darlow then made a wonder save from an Ermedin Demirovic header. Edin Dzeko, 40, levelled late on in normal time.

Darlow saved again from Demirovic in the shootout, but Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams both missed.

Kosovo have never reached a World Cup, but are through to Tuesday’s playoff final at home to Turkiye after winning a wild game in Slovakia 4-3.

The Kosovans twice wiped out a deficit, and Kreshnik Hajrizi’s goal on 72 minutes proved the difference.

Ferdi Kadioglu’s second-half goal put Turkiye through after a tight 1-0 home win over Romania.

Kadioglu calmly netted on 53 minutes after Arda Guler’s magical assist at Besiktas’s stadium in Istanbul.

Romania’s 80-year-old coach Mircea Lucescu, who counts Turkiye among his former jobs, was left to rue Nicolae Stanciu hitting the post as the Tricolours missed the World Cup for the seventh straight edition.

Turkiye, third in 2002, have not reached a men’s World Cup since.

Viktor Gykeres bagged a hat-trick in Sweden’s 3-1 win over Ukraine in Valencia. Ukraine have not played at home since the Russian full-scale invasion more than four years ago, and miss out on another World Cup.

Graham Potter’s Swedes next take on Poland, who came from behind to defeat Albania 2-1 in Warsaw.

Arbr Hoxha pounced 42 minutes after Jan Bednarek’s mistake as Albania dreamed of moving closer to a first World Cup appearance. But record Poland scorer Robert Lewandowski equalised, and Piotr Zielinski won it in style with a goal from distance.

Gustav Isaksen scored twice in two minutes to help Denmark thump North Macedonia 4-0 and set up a meeting away to the Czech Republic, who needed penalties to get past Ireland in Prague.

Troy Parrott, the hero as the Irish made the playoffs at the end of November’s group stage, netted the opener from the spot, and an own goal summed up the poor Czech defence.

But the hosts pulled one back through Patrik Schick’s penalty and Ladislav Krejci’s late header to make it 2-2, prompted by a cagey extra time, with the Czechs prevailing in a shootout.

This year’s tournament, in North America in June and July, will feature an expanded 48 teams, meaning more nations have a chance to qualify.

Twelve European countries have already gotten through by winning their groups. The playoffs are made up of second-placed teams and sides who did well in the previous Nations League.

Bolivia beat Suriname, Jamaica edge New Caledonia to reach playoff finals

In FIFA’s intercontinental playoff games on Thursday, Bolivia rallied to beat Suriname 2-1 to qualify for the final qualifying playoff against Iraq.

Liam Van Gelderen put Suriname ahead in the 48th minute, but Moises Paniagua tied the score at the 72nd, and Miguel Terceros had the winning goal on a penalty kick in the 79th minute for the Bolivians, who are aiming for their second World Cup appearance.

The Bolivians have only previously played in the 1994 World Cup in the US. Suriname were looking to qualify for the first time.

Bolivia will play Iraq next Tuesday in Monterrey, with the winner qualifying for Group I with France, Norway and Senegal.

Elsewhere on Thursday, a first-half goal by Wrexham striker Bailey Cadamarteri gave Jamaica a 1-0 victory over New Caledonia and a place in the international playoff final against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The Reggae Boyz have only one World Cup appearance, at France in 1998. New Caledonia, from Oceania, saw their chance to advance to a first World Cup end.

Jamaica will face DRC next Tuesday at Akron Stadium in Guadalajara. DRC qualified for the playoff by defeating Nigeria in an African playoff.

The winner in Guadalajara will play in Group K in the tournament along with Colombia, Portugal and Uzbekistan.

French and Brazilian stars in focus as former world champions meet in a glamour friendly in Boston, US, before the World Cup.

Brazil and France will be among the leading contenders for FIFA World Cup glory later this year, and the two heavyweight teams continue their preparations for the tournament by facing off in a glamour friendly in the United States on Thursday.

With fewer than three months until kickoff, the countries ranked fifth and third respectively in the world rankings are in the US, familiarising themselves with what lies in store for them this June-July.

When and where is the Brazil vs France friendly match?

The former world champions go head-to-head on Thursday at 20:00 GMT at the Gillette Stadium near Boston, Massachusetts.

The home of the National Football League (NFL) side New England Patriots is the venue for the first meeting of these teams in exactly 11 years, since Brazil came from behind to win 3-1 in a friendly at the Stadium of France in March 2015 with goals from Oscar, Neymar and Luiz Gustavo.

How is Brazil’s form ahead of the match?

Brazil laboured their way through South American World Cup qualifying with six defeats in 18 games as they finished fifth. Now they are hoping the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as coach will give them a genuine chance of winning a record-extending sixth World Cup, and first since 2002.

After this match, they will head to Orlando, Florida, for the next friendly on March 31 against Croatia, the team that ousted them from the 2022 World Cup in the quarterfinals.

Will Brazil miss Neymar?

Neymar is now 34 and has not played for his country since October 2023, but his absence from the squad has still been one of the main talking points coming into these matches.

“It is a physical issue, not technical. With the ball, he is great, but he needs to improve physically,” Ancelotti said after being asked about the absence of the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar, now at Santos.

“Because in my eyes and those of my staff, he is not at 100 percent. So he needs to keep working to get back to 100 percent.”

Who will be the key players for Brazil?

In the meantime, Brazil’s main man is Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, while others likely to have key roles at the World Cup, such as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, are missing here.

Despite a glittering club career that includes two Champions League triumphs and three La Liga titles, Vinicius has scored eight goals in 45 appearances for the five-time world champions and is determined to turn promise into international silverware with his second World Cup on the horizon.

“I feel more at ease, I’m happier; ⁠and when I’m happier, everyone around me is ⁠happier and more confident too,” Vinicius told reporters.

“I hope that everything I do for Real, I can go on to do ⁠here with the Brazilian national team. That’s my biggest goal. It’s where I’ve always dreamed of being, ⁠and I want to bring great pride ⁠to our country and a lot of joy to our entire nation.”

Among other players to feature is Rayan, the uncapped 19-year-old who earned his place after impressing in the Premier League for Bournemouth since arriving from Vasco da Gama in January.

Will Mbappe start for France?

The main focus for France, as ever, is Kylian Mbappe, and the national team captain was eager to feature on this trip after overcoming a knee injury to return for Real Madrid just last week.

There had been mounting fears in France that the 27-year-old’s fitness could become a real issue, but he said missing the World Cup or the end of the club season was never a concern.

“It is behind me. I was following a protocol, and I wanted to start playing again gradually. I hope to be able to play during this international break and to start being decisive again,” he said on Monday.

What happened in the last Brazil-France match?

The last competitive meeting of the teams came at the 2006 World Cup, when France beat Brazil 1-0 in the quarterfinals, thanks to a Thierry Henry goal and a masterful performance by Zidane.

Will Brazil and France meet in the World Cup?

If both win their groups at the upcoming World Cup as expected, they would not meet each other until the final.

Getting that far is the aim for these sides, and Thursday’s game will be a good gauge of where both stand as the competition approaches.

I am blindfolded and seated in a vintage armchair set in the center of a darkened, red-lit room with Gothic accents. An actor is performing nearby. I hear their voice, but cannot, of course, see them. I suddenly spring upward in my seat, alarmed at the touch of some sort of cloth — or perhaps a feather? — across my ankles.

I’ll never be entirely sure. For wearing the small veil across my eyes was a requirement to participate in “Poe: Pulse & Pendulum,” the debut offering from new troupe Theatre Obscura L.A. The company’s initial performance contains two one-act plays, modern interpretations of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

While the stories are familiar to many, Theatre Obscura increases the levels of discomfort. In this room, I am at times unsettled, at once tracking the movements of the actors while attempting to remain hyper aware of any sudden touch or scent. “The Pit and the Pendulum,” the first half of the program, translates especially well to this setting, its dark sense of demented confinement keeping my nerves on high alert.

Conjuring such a state of anxiety was the point.

“If you take the visual away, it’s going to make you feel uneasy,” says Paul Millet, who devised the concept.

There are jump scares. Downtown event space the Count’s Den has been outfitted with about 50 speakers for the Obscura shows, which run through April 12. Some are visible before one puts on the blindfold. Many, though, are hidden under seats or couches, as the audio will trail the actors around the room, or perhaps a sudden crash or door opening will have me jolting my attention elsewhere.

“The Pit and the Pendulum” is a story of torture, and as the narrator, here played by Melissa Lugo, desperately speaks of a blade swinging above, actors will fan us, timing their waves with each swoosh of the audio. I was prepared for that one, as a fellow theatergoer nearby let out a soft yelp when the unseen gestures first arrived above their head.

For many, sight is the most coveted sense. “If you take that away, you’re already naturally uncomfortable,” Millet says. “So we lean into that. We know you’re going to be uncomfortable. We know this is not the norm. But get on that ride with us. Be willing to be uncomfortable. Discomfort, I think, helps to heighten the experience, and ideally allow it to trigger the emotional reactions that the story does.”

“Poe: Pulse & Pendulum” is two one-act, audio-focused performances of Edgar Allan Poe stories.

(Joe Camareno / Theatre Obscura)

Still, touch is limited in the show. Occasionally a rattling of a chair, but little more. The fluttering I felt near my ankles was to mimic the sensation of a running critter. The troupe will ask for audience consent, and participants can opt out. While I went in wondering if “Poe: Pulse & Pendulum” would seek to recall more extreme haunt experiences with lengthy waivers, Millet wanted to keep it light — an audio play, primarily, with just a few in-the-flesh signals.

“We want people to feel unease, but I don’t want anyone taken out of the story because a boundary or line was crossed,” Millet says.

Scent, too, is used with restraint. There are moments when guests will get a whiff of a fragrance that pairs with the storyline. Millet considers the first run of Theatre Obscure to be an experiment in how much touch and scent audiences may want to endure. Smell, he says, is tricky, as the aroma may linger and become a distraction.

Millet has been honing the concept since 2023. Previously, he was part of the team behind Wicked Lit, which ended in 2019 after running for a number of years at unique locations such as Altadena’s Mountain View Mausoleum. Those immersive performances would feature casts and guests walking the venue. Theatre Obscura, however, is fully seated.

“Poe: Pulse & Pendulum” focuses on the fear that something may happen to us when stripped of sight.

(Joe Camareno / Theatre Obscura)

And while the stories of Poe lend themselves to the Halloween season, spooky events increasingly occur year round. Long-running production “The Willows” is set to wrap in early April, and “Monster Party,” a period piece that takes guests to a devilishly extravagant cocktail party, is re-launching in mid-April. Millet, a longtime theater producer who has a day job in television editing, is hoping to stand out by avoiding “the glut” of horror events that occur each September and October.

Theatre Obscura may face challenges, namely persuading potential guests that “The Pit and the Pendulum” is more than simply a live reading with audio effects.

“You can feel the movement of the characters around you,” Millet says. “You’re in the environment with the story as it unfolds. You can experience it on a more visceral level.”

Blindfolded, I felt Theatre Obscura was mostly playing off our fears rather than giving in to them, largely keying in on our anticipation that something may happen to us when stripped of sight. Lugo in much of “The Pit and the Pendulum” circles guests, who are seated sporadically around the room, allowing each of us to imagine how close or far we may be from the hole we are told is at its center. Each show deals with claustrophobia in some way, either of a space, or of a mind.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is louder, more crowded. The sounds of crashing glass and creaky floorboards had my head working overtime to draw a floorplan, only to then have it distorted when actors would unexpectedly whisper in both of my ears to bring forth the protagonist’s nightmares. While I expected Theatre Obscura to be slightly more aggressive in its uses of touch and scent, it’s a show that asks us to live in our heads, and to sit in our own feeling of trepidation.

“I was intrigued,” Millet says, “with really trying to engage the audience’s imagination.”

On a night when my family watched Austin Reaves pull off the miraculous intentional missed free throw put-back basket on the way to a thrilling Laker overtime win against the Denver Nuggets, we talked more about the newest Lakers super fan on the way home. Kudos to Bill Plaschke for recognizing and capturing the power of 6-year-old Jackson Tuyay’s passionate cheering that helped ignite the laid-back crowd and inspire the Lakers to a huge comeback win. As a lifelong Laker fan since the same age as Jackson it was so awesome to see such innocent and authentic passion for the Lakers. In an arena full of stars in the stands and on the court it was the voice of a 6-year-old that reminded us how awesome it is to be a Lakers fan for life!

Paul Stapleton
Los Angeles

To quote Jackson Tuyay, “Yeaaaaah!” It looks like the Lakers can play some defense and beat the better teams after all.

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

Email: sports@latimes.com

Noah Cates scored on a deflection off goalie Lukas Dostal’s skate at 2:17 of overtime and — after a review for offsides on the play — the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ducks 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks forced overtime on Leo Carlsson’s goal with 1:54 left in regulation.

Dan Vladar made 34 saves to help Philadelphia rebound from a 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus at home Saturday night. The Flyers are six points behind Boston and Detroit for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots.

Luke Glendening had his first goal of the season and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia. Trevor Zegras was held off the scoresheet in his first game in Anaheim since his offseason trade. He scored twice in Philadelphia’s 5-2 home victory over the Ducks on Jan. 6.

Cutter Gauthier also scored for the Ducks, and Dostal stopped 24 shots. The Ducks beat Montreal 4-3 on Sunday night to finish 2-2 on a Canadian swing.

Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas served the third game of a five-game suspension for kneeing Auston Matthews in a loss at Toronto on March 12. Matthews tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.

Defenseman John Carlson played his second straight game for the Ducks after a trade-deadline deal with Washington. His debut was delayed by a lower-body injury.

Glendening opened the scoring at 2:50 of the first period, his first goal in 57 games this season with New Jersey and Philadelphia. Tippett made it 2-0 at 7:53 of second with his 23rd of the season. Gauthier cut it to 2-1 on a power play with 38 seconds left in second with his 35th goal of the season.

Philadelphia’s Nick Seeler fought Jansen Harkins in the third period.

U.S. hockey star Jack Hughes might have lost more than a couple of teeth during the gold-medal-winning victory against Canada at the Milan-Cortina Olympics last month.

The puck that Hughes smacked into the net in overtime to give the United States its first men’s Olympic hockey gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” was seemingly forgotten amid the raucous celebration.

But this week, the Hockey Hall of Fame began displaying that puck along with the one Megan Keller knocked into the net in overtime to give the U.S. women’s team gold in Milan. The International Ice Hockey Federation apparently secured the frozen vulcanized rubber disks immediately after the games and handed them to the Hall of Fame located in Toronto.

Hughes is happy “his” puck surfaced but believes he is the rightful owner of a piece of memorabilia that David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, estimated might be worth $1 million.

“I don’t see why Megan Keller or I shouldn’t have those pucks,” Hughes told ESPN. “I’m trying to get it. Like, that’s [B.S.] that the Hockey Hall of Fame has it, in my opinion. Why would they have that puck?”

Hughes might not like the answer. The provenance of the puck is similar to that of a basketball or football used in a notable moment. It is dissimilar to a historic home run because a baseball leaves the field of play, and the owner becomes the fortunate fan.

“Because of the increasing value of memorabilia, ownership of items has become standardized over the last decade or so,” said an expert who agreed to speak anonymously because they work in the acquisition of such items. “Whoever purchased the puck owns it. Jerseys belong to the team, shoes and gloves to the player, the puck to whoever supplied it to the Olympics.”

That would be the International Ice Hockey Federation, the governing body of the Olympics hockey tournament. The IIHF employees who immediately secured those precious pucks amid gold-medal bedlam apparently did their job well.

“The puck was designated for archival preservation with the Hockey Hall of Fame to ensure its long-term safekeeping and historical recognition,” an IIHF spokesperson said.

The pucks are featured in an “Olympics ‘26” display that also contains a hockey stick used by Brady Tkachuk of the U.S. team and a U.S. jersey worn by four-time Olympian Hilary Knight.

It might strike some as odd that the display is in Canada, where fans are mourning the loss to the United States, but that’s been the location of the Hall of Fame since it was established in 1943. HOF president Jamie Dinsmore said in a statement that the display contains “donated items,” although it is unclear whether the IIHF has donated or merely loaned the pucks to the HOF.

“The Olympics ’26 display will help ensure that these unforgettable Olympic moments are preserved for our guests from around the world to experience,” Dinsmore said.

Meanwhile, Hughes told ESPN he wants the puck to become the property of one particular fan — his father, who collects memorabilia for him and his brothers Quinn and Luke. All three play in the NHL.

“I wouldn’t even want it for myself. I’d want it for my dad. I know he’d just love, love having it,” Hughes said. “When I look back in my career, I don’t collect too many things for myself, but my dad’s a monster collector for the three of us. I know he would have a special place for it.”

Or it could be sold at auction, where certainly it would pay for any dental work Hughes needs after getting teeth knocked out during the gold-medal game. Various auction houses have estimated the value of the puck to be from $40,000 to $1 million.

Should he acquire the puck, though, Hughes might not even consider selling it. The first pick of the 2019 NHL draft, he signed an eight-year, $64 million contract extension with the New Jersey Devils four years ago.

Anxieties due to war. A culture inhospitable to LGBTQ+ communities. And an underpinning of loneliness and suppressed yearning.

The play “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” is set in 1956, but its themes resonate in 2026. The United States is at war. Attacks on gay marriage and other LGBTQ+ rights remain a cornerstone of today’s conservative movement. A reimagining of the 2011 production, one popular with universities and fringe festivals, seeks to further modernize the show in which a morning gathering quickly turns into a stay in a Cold War-era bomb shelter after near nuclear annihilation.

When I arrived at the back room of a Glendale church, I was given a new name. It was clear that “Todd” was not welcome here. “Joan” turned out to be a suitable replacement, and I was immediately asked how my life had been since my husband had died. For on this night I would no longer be occupying the role of a straight white male. Every audience member is asked to take on the persona of a widow, for losing a husband appeared to be a perquisite to enter this meeting of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertude Stein.

How did he die, I was asked. “Ski accident,” I blurted out. “Yours?” A camping travesty that led to a bear mauling, I was told. Ad-libbing, in addition to quiche, was on the menu tonight. Metaphors, absurdities and seriousness intermingle in this production from New Forms LA and directed by Marissa Pattullo.

Pattullo’s vision for “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” ramps up the interactivity, seeking to transform a largely traditional proscenium show, albeit one with a few moments of fourth-wall breaking, into one that is centered around audience participation. Staged in a flex space without a tinge of irony at the Glendale Church of the Brethren, “5 Lesbians,” written by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood, has been reconstructed as a largely immersive production, that is one that asks audiences to lean in and interact.

Jessica Damouni’s Ginny Cadbury devouring breakfast in “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” a show that unfolds as a giant metaphor.

(New Forms LA)

While there is a small stage, it is used sparingly. The five-person cast roams the room, sitting at various circular tables to blur the lines between script and improvisation. Typically a svelte 75-minute show, on the night I saw the production it swelled to about two hours, allowing time for drinks, mingling and, of course, the eating of a quiche. Pattullo has added an intermission, with quiches courtesy of Kitchen Mouse and Just What I Kneaded included in the ticket.

For quiche, I was told often, was the primary topic of conversation at the Easter-timed meeting, so much so that it was clear within moments that this was a gathering not of breakfast enthusiasts but of the repressed. The hidden meaning is no secret; it’s in the title of the play.

“It’s a giant metaphor,” Pattullo, 30, says. The show, she adds, “keeps finding ways to make sense with the times, whether it’s Trump being elected, or we’re at war. Or gay marriage. All of those things. A bomb going off and being trapped inside. It speaks to whoever is watching it.”

Pattullo, who splits time building New Forms LA and serving tables at Los Feliz’s Little Dom’s, first discovered the show while in college in the Midwest. It immediately resonated, and Pattullo has been tinkering with ways to perform it live ever since. During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she staged an online version of the show, and debuted it as an immersive production last winter. It’s back for two weekends this month.

“5 Lesbians” makes a relatively smooth transition to the immersive format. Perhaps that’s because the audience, in the script, is cast as attendees of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertude Stein’s brunch meeting, whose motto is “no men, no meat, all manners.” For about the first 30 minutes of the show we largely interact with the actors. Dale Prist (Nicole Ohara) has hidden ambitions. Vern Schultz (Chandler Cummings) seems ready for the group to cut its charade. Lulie Stanwyck (Noelle Urbano) is fighting so hard to stay prim and proper that she feels on the verge of bursting.

“I really like to play,” Pattullo says, referencing how “5 Lesbians” lends itself to improvisation. “Some of the girls I think are very ‘stick to the script.’ I’m like, ‘Stray from the script.’ If people come in late, call them out. If people are talking, call them out. You can adjust and improvise in immersive theater. Having a script but being able to break from it, is really fun for me. It tickles me.”

Wren Robin (Emily Yetter), Vern Schultz (Chandler Cummings) and Lulie Stanwyck (Noelle Urbano) protect breakfast in “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche.”

(New Forms LA)

There’s an underlying tension in the show because it walks a line between silliness and graveness. Ultimately, “5 Lesbians” is about finding joy in dark times, and moments inspire uncomfortable laughter, such as jokes about gay marriage being legal in four years’ time (1960) or Ginny Cadbury (Jessica Damouni) devouring a quiche in a way that leaves nothing to the imagination. But it’s also a show about how stressful moments can bring about vulnerability and community, as the whole church practically exhaled when Wren Robbin (Emily Yetter) finally let her hair down and expressed who she truly was.

“Even when we did it back when I was in college, Trump had just won, so it just feels like it’s keeping relevant,” Pattullo says. The timeliness, she says, makes it such an amusing play to perform.

Pattullo will sometimes, depending on cast availability, take on a role in the show. It’s a chance, she says, to amplify the play’s wackiness, which she believes helps puts audiences at ease and makes its difficult subject matter easier to digest. She tries to create the most outlandish tale possible for when relaying to guests one on one how her husband perished.

“My story was a raccoon attack,” she says. “Because my husband thought the raccoon was behaving with foreign intent, like the raccoon was a spy or something. It was just stupid.”

Or it was evidence of how immersive theater can delight when it deviates from the script.

Bayern Munich may hand 16-year-old goalkeeper Leonard Prescott his first-team debut in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The German giants have three goalkeepers struggling with injury and if Jonas Urbig fails to recover from concussion then Prescott will play in the second leg of their last 16 tie against Atalanta, head coach Vincent Kompany said.

Urbig sustained his injury in Bayern’s 6-1 victory in Italy last week, while regular starter Manuel Neuer is working towards full fitness after a muscle tear and third-choice keeper Sven Ulreich picked up an adductor issue in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen.

“Jonas trained normally today [Tuesday]. The decision tomorrow will be a medical one,” Kompany said.

“If everything goes well then Urbig will be in goal. If not then we will have to find another solution.”

Prescott, a German youth international who plays for Bayern’s under-19s, will require clearance from German labour authorities to work in the evening as he is a teenager.

He has been on Bayern’s bench in their past two matches with fellow teenage keeper Leon Klanac, 19, also out with a thigh injury.

Reserve team keeper Janis Bartl, 19, has featured on the Bayern bench in two Bundesliga matches this season, but it is Prescott who Kompany will turn to if necessary.

“He [Prescott] is very calm. Overall, we as a staff are also calm. If he plays tomorrow he will have our full backing. Everyone will help,” Kompany added.

“There will never be a young player who will be forced to play a main role. We have full confidence in him whatever happens tomorrow.”

Neuer, a World Cup winner and 12-time Bundesliga champion with Bayern, has played 19 times in the league this season, with the 37-year-old’s last appearance coming on 6 March.

Urbig, 22, has played eight league matches, including six starts, while Ulreich, 37, made his first appearance of the season on Saturday.

Bayern, the defending Bundesliga champions and current league leaders, will face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in the last eight should they beat Atalanta.

Icelandic low‑cost airline PLAY entered administration and ceased operations on September 29, 2025, with all flights cancelled and around 400 staff affected

Hundreds of workers were made redundant after a low-cost carrier announced it had entered administration.

Icelandic airline PLAY, headquartered in Reykjavík, confirmed it had ceased operations and grounded all its flights last September. A statement on the carrier’s website at the time read: “Dear passenger, Fly PLAY hf. has ceased operations, and all flights have been cancelled.”

According to local media outlet RUV, the move resulted in 400 people facing redundancy, with the company “trying to pay staff their wages”. It is unclear whether the affected employees have received their full payments.

PLAY was established in July 2019, starting operations from its base at Keflavík International Airport, Reykjavik, in June 2021. The carrier initially served six European destinations: Alicante, Tenerife, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Berlin. PLAY also ran services between London and Reykjavik, although prior to the announcement there were no seats on sale after November 1.

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The board of PLAY said in a statement at the time: “The board of Fly Play hf. has decided to terminate operations, and all of the company’s flights have been cancelled. The company will work closely with authorities and employees to implement the necessary steps for winding down operations.

“There are many reasons behind this decision. The company’s performance has long fallen short of expectations, ticket sales have been poor in recent weeks and months following negative media coverage, and internal disagreements among some employees regarding strategic changes have further strained the situation.”

Information disclosed by the board concerned modifications that failed to produce the required outcomes. They added: “Last fall, Play introduced a new business model that initially inspired significant optimism.

“Unfortunately, it has now become clear that these changes cannot deliver the results needed to overcome the airline’s deep-seated financial troubles. In hindsight, these measures would have needed to be implemented much earlier.”

ONE spot in the capital dubs itself ‘London’s quirkiest church’ because inside you’ll find a soft play – and a fully stocked bar for the parents.

Inside St James Church in West Hampstead, London, you will find the Sherriff Centre.

Rather unusually, the venue is a blend of different things including a post office, children’s soft play centre, cafe and even a stationery shop.

The soft play area – called Hullabaloo – spans one side of the church and features all you would expect of a soft play centre.

In the section for kids aged between two and 10-years-old, there are three levels featuring two slides, crawl tunnels and hidey holes.

The soft play also has separate sections for babies up to 23 months with a ball pit, puzzles and games and a sensory mirror.

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One person commented on social media: “Wow what a unique soft play!”

Another added: “What a fun idea and a great way to start the weekend.”

There are also SEN sessions available, and the venue is available for private party hire.

The Sanctuary Cafe and Bar serves cake, coffee and even wine.

Even though the venue doesn’t serve more than snacks, it has teamed up with Pizza Bun London in Hampstead for an exclusive offer for visitors heading to the soft play.

The soft play is open each day between 9am and 5pm, with the last booking at 4pm.

But there are Play Late sessions too, where kids can play as parents enjoy a glass of wine at the bar.

The next Play Late session is March 20, followed by April 10 and May 22.

Tickets cost £5.50 for babies or £7.50 for juniors and adults go free.

The centre also runs weekly baby and toddler classes such as Petite Performers, with ballet and dancing.

Sometimes there are Sofar Sounds live music events on at the church too.

Memberships are available for the soft play, with a babies membership costing £15 per month for four sessions.

A Bronze membership then costs £10 a month for two soft play sessions, Silver costs £20 a month for three sessions, a 10 per cent discount at the cafe and early access to book event tickets.

Finally, a Gold membership costing £40 per month, gets you six soft play sessions, a 10 per cent discount at the café, two Sofar Sounds tickets and early access to book event tickets.

The soft play is just a couple of minutes’ walking from West Hampstead underground and train stations.

It isn’t the only church to have something unusual inside…

In Redbridge, London, a swimming pool described as “magical” can be found in an old hospital church.

It is a Virgin Active gym now with a 24-metre pool as well as showers, hot tub and steam room.

For more places to take your kids, a travel expert shares the best free London attractions for kids.

Plus, the English counties with the most free family activities from pony sanctuaries and steam railways to soft plays.

HOUSTON — Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.

The U.S. squad rebounded after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play left them needing help to advance to this round.

The Americans move on to face the Dominican Republic in a semifinal on Sunday in Miami. It will be the team’s third straight appearance in the semifinals and the fourth overall.

It’s another big win for the U.S. over its neighbors to the north, coming after the U.S. hockey team beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal at the Milan Olympics last month.

Bo Naylor hit a two-run homer in Canada’s three-run sixth that cut the deficit to two runs. But the U.S. bullpen closed it out, capped by Mason Miller striking out the side in the ninth for the save.

Canada, which was in the quarterfinals for the first time, fell to 1-5 against the U.S. in the WBC.

Canada trailed by five runs when Owen Caissie walked with one out in the sixth and moved to second on a groundout by Abraham Toro. Tyler Black’s RBI single off Brad Keller cut the lead to 5-1.

Naylor’s shot to the second deck in right field came on Gabe Speier’s fifth pitch and got Canada within 5-3. It was the 10th home run the U.S. has yielded in five games in the tournament.

Canada had a shot to close the gap in the seventh when it had runners on second and third with no outs. But David Bednar retired the next three batters, with two strikeouts, to escape the jam.

U.S. starter Logan Webb gave up four hits and walked one with five strikeouts in 4⅔ innings.

Bobby Witt Jr. was on with one out in the first when Judge doubled before Witt scored on a groundout by Kyle Schwarber to give the U.S. an early lead. The double by Judge was the only extra-base hit of the night for the U.S.

Canada had a runner on first with two outs in the second when Witt made a leaping catch on a ball hit by Edouard Julien to end the inning.

The bases were loaded with two outs in the third when Alex Bregman singled on a groundball to Toro. His throw to first sailed over Josh Naylor’s head and into the dugout and two runs scored to make it 3-0.

Roman Anthony singled with one out in the sixth before a walk by Cal Raleigh. Turang singled on a grounder to center field to score Anthony and push the lead to 4-0. Crow-Armstrong sent the next pitch into center field for an RBI single before Witt grounded into a double play to end the inning.

NEW YORK — What makes life worth living? For hard-core “Harry Potter” fans with money to burn, it might be getting Broadway tickets to interact fleetingly with Daniel Radcliffe in “Every Brilliant Thing,” an ingenious and touching solo performance piece written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe on the subject of suicide — or more precisely, on the ordinary joys that militate against such a drastic step.

Radcliffe was breathlessly scampering up and down the aisles of the Hudson Theatre before the show began, enlisting audience members to be participants in the play. Having seen “Every Brilliant Thing” twice before, once at the Edye (the black box at Santa Monica’s BroadStage) starring Donahoe in 2017 and once at the Geffen Playhouse’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater starring Daniel K. Isaac in 2023, I knew exactly what he was up to.

The play revolves around a list that the narrator began at the tender age of 7 after his mother first attempted suicide. While she was still in the hospital, he started compiling, as much for her benefit as for his own, sources of everyday happiness.

Ice cream, water fights, kind people who aren’t weird and don’t smell unusual. These items are given a number, and audience members assigned a particular “brilliant thing” are expected to shout out their entry when their number is called.

The list gradually grows in complexity as the narrator gets older. Miss Piggy, spaghetti bolognese and wearing a cape give way to more sophisticated pleasures, such as the way Ray Charles sings the word “You” in the song “Drown in My Own Tears” or the satisfaction in writing about yourself in the second person.

Music plays a prominent role in “Every Brilliant Thing,” which was adapted from a monologue/short story Macmillan wrote called “Sleeve Notes.” The narrator’s terribly British father takes refuge from the emotional storms of his household by listening to jazz records in his office. John Coltrane, Cab Calloway, Bill Evans, Nina Simone are favorite artists, and the narrator can tell his father’s mood simply by the record he’s decided to play.

The production, directed by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan, involves every level of the Hudson Theatre. I assumed I would be safe, occupying an aisle seat in the murderously expensive prime orchestra during a press performance attended by critics. But I wasn’t flashing a pad as my colleague across the aisle from me was doing to ward off any intrusions. And just before the show was about to start, Radcliffe was suddenly kneeling beside my seat asking if the person I was sitting with was my partner.

I told him that we weren’t a couple, just friends, and that I would be the worst person he could possibly ask to perform anything. But Radcliffe wasn’t so easily put off. “Let’s just say that you’re an older couple who have been together for some time,” he whispered. “And all you have to do is hand me this box of juice and candy bar when I refer to the older couple.”

OK, what harm could there be? Little did I know that “older couple” was to become “old couple,” a term that seemed to be repeated incessantly, at least to my Gen X ears not yet accustomed to scurrilous millennial attacks! I composed myself by pretending that we were in the world of anti-realism. But in truth, I would like to be the kind of person who would offer an anxious kid in a hospital waiting room a juice box and a candy bar, so maybe the casting wasn’t so far-fetched after all.

Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway production of “Every Brilliant Thing.”

(Matthew Murphy)

A theatergoer was called upon to play the vet who euthanized the narrator’s childhood pet, a dog named Indiana Bones that was symbolized by a coat someone volunteered from the audience. It was the boy’s first experience of death, a difficult concept for a young mind but an important precursor for a boy not given the luxury of existential innocence.

Other audience members, particularly those seated on the stage, played much more elaborate roles. One man, first invited to serve as a stand-in for the narrator’s father, was asked instead to play the boy. He was given one word to say in reply — “Why?” — as his father tries to explain the reason his mother is in the hospital. This same enlisted actor was later called upon to play the dad giving a toast at his son’s wedding, one of the rare occasions when he was able to summon language for the kind of deep feeling he would normally only be able to express through his records.

One kind and patient spectator conscripted to play the school counselor had to remove her shoe to improvise a sock puppet, one of the tools of her empathetic practice. Another audience member sensitively played Sam, the narrator’s love of his life, a relationship that reveals the long-term toll of being raised by a parent suffering from suicidal depression.

Radcliffe’s audience wrangling was as intuitively sharp as his deeply felt performance. He has the comfort of a good retail politician, who’s not afraid of making direct contact with crowds. Two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy, in the house at the reviewed performance, gamely went along when Radcliffe briefly enlisted her luminous services.

Obviously, Radcliffe is the main reason “Every Brilliant Thing” is on Broadway. The show, which began at Britain’s Ludlow Fringe Festival in 2013, is a gossamer piece, a 70-minute curio best experienced in close quarters without the high expectations and ludicrous prices of New York’s turbo-charged commercial theater. The Hudson Theatre lends a mega-church vibe to the proceedings, but the spirits of theatergoers are nonetheless moved.

A scruffy-faced Radcliffe, twinkling accessible geniality in jeans and a sweatshirt, zips up and down the cavernous theater as though waging a one-man campaign against the isolation epidemic. There’s no denying that Harry Potter has matured into an assured stage actor. His Tony-winning performance in “Merrily We Roll Along” should have put to rest any doubts, but the glare of his fame can still obscure his serious chops.

Sincere yet never smarmy, ironic without ever being cynical, well-groomed though far from swank, he’s a more glamorous version of the character than the one originated by Donahoe, the British comedian with an everyman demeanor whose portrayal seemed so genuine at the Edye that I mistakenly thought that the play was his personal story.

Donahoe’s performance was filmed for HBO, but “Every Brilliant Thing” is meant to be experienced in a theater. The whole point of the show is to transform the audience into an impromptu ensemble, a group of strangers emotionally united through the story of one young man’s intimate knowledge of suicide, a subject that Albert Camus called the “one truly serious philosophical problem.”

I’m of two minds about “Every Brilliant Thing.” I was moved once again by the piece, but I’m grateful I didn’t have to wreak havoc on my credit card to pay for my seats. I love the interactive, gentle humanity of the play, but I was also acutely aware of how the work has been commodified. I applaud Radcliffe’s willingness to carve an independent path as an actor, but I might have been more impressed by his adventurousness had he decided to perform in a pocket venue that didn’t have the tiers of pricing I associate with airlines.

Yet launching a conversation around mental health with an audience magnet as powerful as Radcliffe is on balance an excellent thing. And Radcliffe’s compassionate portrayal of a survivor recognizing that he’s not out of the woods just because he made it into adulthood is one of those things that makes a theater lover just a little more appreciative of the humanity at the center of this art form.