Thanks for the strong review of this intelligent play with two great performances. I thought it was very good and certainly worth seeing, but I think it suffers from some genre confusion. Does it really add to the play to so frequently interrupt dramatic scenes with the character addressing the audience? Repeatedly made me wonder if it would be more gripping written as a straight “play” (that is, representation of action). Alternatively, I wonder if the playwright is struggling with material that would be a better fit to a work of prose fiction. It strives to be self-referential (we are experiencing the work she will write) but it is a drama and the characters are novelists and the multiple literary references are to novels. A novel would allow for really quoting from the student’s work and even from the teacher’s novel. But, as you can see, it got me thinking....
2
I felt so lucky to see this extraordinary play on Thursday.
Simply remarkable in every aspect. Kudos to everyone involved for breathing electric and nuanced life into Rapp's remarkable script. Holds you spellbound with staying power to spare.
4
I was there the same night and concur on all points. Brava!
4
I think it should play
in London at the National
Theater or one of their
smaller theaters, they
can film it for the "NT Live"
series and we can see it
worldwide.
Makes me wonder how
legal intellectual rights
are negotiated and how
the creative artists and crew
are compensated in these
situations. There
must be a way to do it.
Some thoughts on some of the comments posted: The economics of bringing a play to NY are complicated, especially finding an available theater of the correct size for the show. Bringing the show to other communities and to community theaters: licensing the show is (rightly) highly controlled to protect the economic interests of authors, and to theater companies access to paying audiences.
4
As with Joe Mantello, anything David Cromer directs is worth seeing.
6
Wow. Both the play and the review deserve the interjection.
1
Mary-Louise Parker ! Wow ! That's exciting theatre !
3
I saw her excellent performance on Bdway in Proof. I live in the DC suburbs but would come to N.Y.C. just to see her in what seems to be a perfect vehicle for her extraordinary talent.
8
Sometimes with all the great talent, even a great work doesn't come together based on unforeseeable factors. "Dead Man's Cell Phone" felt like a great, lacerating play in Washington D.C., but something did not come through to make the production Mary Louise Parker starred in in NYC move on. At the time, after being stunned in D.C., I thought between D.C. (June 2007) and NYC (spring 2008), phone technology had changed so quickly and the plot didn't feel as up to the minute as it had at D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth, as if there really were no way out. It felt, as I watched it in NYC, some plot complications could have been "solved" by features the cell-phone-using world now had. But a searing performance by Mary Louise Parker that I hope was preserved!
3
I miss great plays.
I don't know if this is a great play,
but I do miss them.
23
Why can't they make "Live" productions
of American theatre and find a way of
presenting these great shows to a wider
audience? This play sounds so fabulous.
36
Absolutely! Netflix them! I'd pay for it!
16
Playwright gotta eat. So do actors. Superior intellectual property demands husbandry. The playwright has to think long term, about his entire career.
However, in addition to pecuniary considerations, there is the art form and integrity of live theater. This work of art is for the stage, and it will eventually find a home in other cities and in other media.
Having said that, an impresario should develop a way of distributing great new plays to smaller metropolitan areas while the play is still hot and continues to occupy a place in the mind of the general public.
12
Yes, and make the plays more available to community theaters sooner. Contrary to public opinion, seeing a play mounted in the community theater does not prevent one from seeing it on Broadway. Quite the opposite.
3
Saw this stunning play on Sunday. I couldn’t speak afterwards, my thoughts were racing back over the finely tuned lines. I do hope it’s staged in NYC.
26
Another phenomenal Mary-Louise Parker performance. She continues to be a National Treasure.
A friend of mine happened to be in New York for a business meeting during the time that "Heisenberg" was running. Acting as his concierge, I recommended that he take himself to see "Heisenberg" on the evening of the meeting's overnight break. He did so. Time well spent.
As they say, when you're in New York, see a show.
17
I'm a huge fan of Ms. Parker's work, having first seen her performance in "How I Learned to Drive" and having followed her on television ("Weeds" and "Angels in America"). She's an incredible actress and I'll echo the sentiment that I hope this work makes it to New York.
23
I saw it Sunday afternoon and was stunned by it. I went to see Mary-Louise Parker, whom I'd never had the opportunity to see work before. But everything about it made it worth the trip. I hope they take it to New York. The show deserves it.
29
Is it coming to New York City?
9
Oh, yes, please, do bring it to New York. The opportunity to see the wonderful Ms. Parker in a work like this shouldn’t be missed.
20
This is a fabulous production on every level and I hope the play gets to a wider audience; it's quite beautiful and thought provoking.
33