Anyone See "The Castle" With Jan Maxwell?
Anyone See "The Castle" With Jan Maxwell?
#1Anyone See "The Castle" With Jan Maxwell?
Posted: 7/17/13 at 1:38pmHas anyone seen or heard anything about Howard Barker's "The Castle," with Jan Maxwell? The two reviews I have read elsewhere have been great, but I'm wondering if anyone here has seen it and can give some feedback!
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#2Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 2:24pm
I saw it yesterday. I thought it was good - maybe a little over my head at some points. LOL. I'm not familiar with the play or the playwright so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's not a straight drama; there are some dark humor scattered in. The performances were excellent. Jan is amazing; she looked nothing like herself in Act 2. The other leads were great, too. The set is very minimal & you have to use your imagination on what's actually happening, though. Luckily, there's a digital sign that says the location. It took me halfway through Act 1 to realize it was there. Heh.
There's some language that I wasn't expecting... My friend that went with me is more familiar with the playwright & she loved it so... *shrugs*
#2Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 2:27pmThanks sorano916! I'm thinking about going just to see Maxwell, since she's one of my favorites, and to know that it's definitely good is probably convincing enough!
whatever2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#3Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 2:30pm
it's a NYT critics pick, and TONY gave it four stars.
if that helps. 
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
#4Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 2:35pmI read the Time Out New York review, which certainly was very positive, but I can't find the Times review!
whatever2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#5Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 3:31pm
oh, crap -- brain freeze!
I was looking at something else ... sorry, mann.
fwiw, I bought my ticket based on the glowing TONY review ... going next week.
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#6Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 5:46pmHere's Brantley's review: http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/theater/reviews/the-castle-from-the-potomac-theater-project.html
#7Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 6:18pm
Looks like a very positive review! Here are some pull quotes; I would post more but I'm on mobile:
“The Castle” is hugely, disgustingly entertaining. It may even be enlightening..."
"Ms. Maxwell, a five-time Tony nominee, has ceased to surprise only because she always surprises. And here she brings a marvelously gritty, ambivalent majesty to the broken witch..."
#8Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 6:54pmI bought a ticket for the final performance. With such good reviews and low ticket prices, in a small theatre, I don't want to take any chances.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
whatever2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#9Anyone See
Posted: 7/17/13 at 11:15pm
holy cr*p -- it IS a NYT Critics' Pick!!!
I swear I had no idea when I posted this afternoon ... I really was confusing it with another Times Pick (Gibraltar).
So, anyone want to know tomorrow's winning Mega Millions numbers? :)
(BTW, if you like Joyce, Gibraltar is *well* worth seeing ... if you don't like Joyce, well, the acting rocks but the dialogue may grate.)
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
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