The chief virtue of the current Irish Classical Theatre production of Dario Fo’s 1970 play, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, is assuredly the central performance of actor John Warren. A former Buffalo resident who has come back to town specifically for this production, Warren is a clown of formidable power and range who was often underused (or misused) when he lived here. Indeed, his is a unique talent that can be difficult to contain. Warren requires a vehicle appropriate in proportion and tone. Highlights of his years in Buffalo included ICTC’s production of Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw and BUA’s Psychopathia Sexualis. His idiosyncratic stage presence, precise diction and amazing comic timing also make him a gifted performer in the absurdist idiom of Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco.

Wedlock, the world premiere play by Joshua Faigen at the Alleyway Theatre is a light heterosexual comedy about the eternal mating battles between men and women. It is a fast-paced and lighthearted affair, under the direction of Neal Radice, with Stephanie Bax, David Hayes, Matthew LaChiusa and Kim Piazza in a variety of stressful couplings.

Hairspray is a larger-than-life show about Tracy Turnblad, a big girl who fulfills her dream to dance on a 1960s television show. Jim J. Bullock, whose own larger-than-life personality has driven his entire career, will play Tracy’s father, Wilbur, when the show rocks and rolls into Shea’s Buffalo Theatre.