A bit late to the party here, but I have to say that this beautifully, tenderly acted play does not really earn its stage time. (Google some reviews, BTW, both of this production and the London one circa 2005--many negatives abound.)
Straining for verisimilitude of 'real life' can produce a great deal of banality, and even wonderful actors cannot rescue that.
Also: what's with the French scenes? A cast of 10 in a play told almost entirely in 2-character scenes....I know this playwright has chops...where were they? So many lost opportunities for character interaction...
As for direction: at my perf., some scene blackouts were in silence, some had music to cover. Sometimes actors moved props, sometimes stealthy stage managers did it. The inconsistency was jarring, and while I did enjoy the actors' work, shaky accents forgiven, the play does not hold.
2
Once again Brantley saw a different play. Tedious unengaging stuff. Stiff and seemingly undirected. Avoid.
4
Without any analysis, the only thing one can reply to you is: WRONG. Why even comment if you have nothing to say?
Another of your terrific reviews, Ben Brantley. You always make me wish I now lived in NYC and could attend the play.
I once took issue with Dwight Macdonald and got a brief answer, so I'm only slightly tentative about taking issue with Ben Brantley, a writer I always read with interest and respect.
But as an ex-actor and therefore an ex-member of casts, I take issue with BB's way of giving credit to actors in the following way:
"...and their two teenage sons, Alex (Ben Rosenfield, very fine) and Christopher (Wesley Zurick)....Peter’s parents, Ellen (a wonderful Blair Brown) and Charlie (Peter Maloney), live nearby."
There is something hurtful in these acceptances/praises within parentheses, grand for those singled out but for me hurtful; I "ouch" for those not praised, so close and yet so far.
He maybe could ask around, see if his praise could be shifted to a different format, less close to those who are not praised.
BB is a first-rate critic and I in no way mean this as anything else but a thought from a fan. And this new MacBook Air has a keyboard that slides words off the fingertips like a blabbermouth un-gagged.
But as an ex-actor and therefore an ex-member of casts, I take issue with BB's way of giving credit to actors in the following way:
"...and their two teenage sons, Alex (Ben Rosenfield, very fine) and Christopher (Wesley Zurick)....Peter’s parents, Ellen (a wonderful Blair Brown) and Charlie (Peter Maloney), live nearby."
There is something hurtful in these acceptances/praises within parentheses, grand for those singled out but for me hurtful; I "ouch" for those not praised, so close and yet so far.
He maybe could ask around, see if his praise could be shifted to a different format, less close to those who are not praised.
BB is a first-rate critic and I in no way mean this as anything else but a thought from a fan. And this new MacBook Air has a keyboard that slides words off the fingertips like a blabbermouth un-gagged.
8
I was thinking the same thing. Glad you put it into words.
5
As a writer who has felt both the positive and negative ends of the review stick, I can identify with Leo's comments, but reject them because BB has a job to do: he is charged with providing his opinion of what he has seen. I know many worry that our society has moved away from winners and losers and has begun to allow for "participation trophies" and nothing more. Let's not take another step in that direction.
1
A beautiful play, the best I've seen this year. Highly recommend.
In life, we "ache to connect" and very rarely do so. This play is pretty much like real life, which is to say humdrum. Yes, the actors were fine. But the play itself is banal and doesn't withstand critical thought once the curtain drops.
4
Not much of a play, but the actors were right on.
1
Decent play but nearly as moving, brilliant and well done as Doll's House Part 2. Out of the hundreds of plays I have seen in my life, this is not one I will remember. It's one of those plays where you're not really sure if that was the end. "Do we clap now?"
2
You've seen hundreds of plays and you compare something to the ninety-minute glitz of the moment? This play is firmly in the tradition of British family drama, a "state of the nation" play (ours too) that resonates more with the current depressive cultural moment than it did in 2006. And the execution by this impeccable cast is reason enough to forgive the play's falling short of perfection. I left feeling as if I had heard a titanic symphony in a minor key. (In our present cultural condition, no one is clapping right now.)
2
I liked DD2 but this play has a resonance that outshines DD2 in everyway.
1
A quietly shattering play. I basked in its glow. The best work I've ever seen from many of these actors, but especially C.J. Wilson.
6