AFTER THE BLAST

Saw it over the weekend. Very much enjoyed it. The play reads as kind of a Westworld meets any pet movie ever. The basic (non-spoilery plot) is this: In a post nuclear apocalypse world, humans live in an underground world while waiting for the ground level to become decontaminated. A man gets an assistance robot (the future version of a service dog) for his wife to train for a future disabled or elderly person in hopes that it will help her with her depression from living in a world without sunlight.

The play is extremely engaging, but a tad on the forgettable side. If you aren't one for sentiment you may nt agree with me. The design (like so many productions at LCT3) is competent but really nothing special. I for sure wasn't ever board.

The acting is pretty good all around, particularly from Cristin Milioti who is just so damn endearing and captivating to watch. It took me half of the show to realize that most of her scenes were being played to the R2D2 style service-robot which must be impossible to play off of and she makes it effortless. The RC robot works 80% effectively. Its not extremely distracting, but a lot of the robots functions and the largeness and bulkiness shape are weirdly a decade or so behind technology we use in our every day lives, but the play supposedly takes place centuries in the future.

Go for the performances, the play itself, and the most charming rendition of "Islands in the Stream" you'll ever see.

How is the seating? We have a group of tickets that start at the third row aisle. I've never been to the venue before but it seems so small that I would think any seat would have a decent view. Is that the case or should we move a couple rows back where we can get a more centered view?

I had never heard of this play, but then I saw the highlights reel here on BWW on the side panel, the one with the picture of Jackson and Milioti, and I bought a ticket about five minutes later. I'm a huge fan of both of them and the plot intrigued me. So now I'm excited for Sunday!

AntV said: "Really loved this tonight. Quick question though for anyone who has seen it and can remember.

There was a technical difficulties stop due to the robot tonight. It occurred right after the main guy says goodnight to the robot the night before he will be sent away. A crew member came out to take the robot away and the play stopped. Then they picked back up with the main guy and girl re-entering after their mental health evaluation.

So what if anything was missed? Does the robot just exit offstage by itself? Do the characters leave with the robot? Any dialogue? Thanks a lot for any help!"



After he says goodnight the robot exits offstage and the scene changes. You didn’t miss anything :)

Saw this Saturday afternoon and our entire group absolutely loved it. Thought everyone gave really strong performances (and we all wanted to bring Arthur home with us, lol). I know some reviewers had mentioned they felt it was overlong but we all thought it moved at a good pace.

Was my first time in that theater and I have to say I really love the intimate performance space - bandit964 was right, there’s really not a bad spot to view from. We also got a bit of a jolt when we realized that Wallace Shawn and Rhea Perlman also happened to be in the audience with us.