DOWNSTATE Previews (Playwrights Horizons)

[OffOnBwayHi]

Posted: 10/30/22 at 3:43pm

Saw this last night. A must-see.

wow.

What are your thoughts?

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/30/22 at 5:14pm

Tried to buy ticket this morning to join two friends who were going- the Playwrights Horizons website did a number on me ("i was charged--twice--but no ticket ever got to me, box offices simply offered a refund and suggested I do will-call... not great) but regardless, i've heard such great things about this piece from its London run, and I can't wait. 

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 10/30/22 at 5:29pm

Caught it at Steppenwolf four years ago. One of the most riveting dramas I've ever seen. Get your tickets now, I imagine this will be a very talked-about piece.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 10/30/22 at 9:08pm

I am seeing this next week. What was the running time?

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 10/30/22 at 9:32pm

I saw the Saturday matinee, can’t stop thinking about it.  A must see for any serious theatergoer.  the running time is 2 hrs 25 min. Including intermission. 

[OffOnBwayHi]

Posted: 10/31/22 at 1:29pm

I can see the playwright winning another pulitzer. (If the eligibility window hasn't passed.) It's such an incredible, complex, challenging and moving piece. I feel lucky to have seen it.

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 10/31/22 at 4:09pm

OffOnBwayHi said: "I can see the playwright winning another pulitzer. (If the eligibility window hasn't passed.) It's such an incredible, complex, challenging and moving piece. I feel lucky to have seen it."

Yes, I agree. But even if it doesn't I think it is already an important play and will be remembered as such.

Updated On: 10/31/22 at 04:09 PM

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 10/31/22 at 9:02pm

Is the play eligible? I thought it premiered back in 2019.

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 11/1/22 at 9:54am

Looking forward to seeing this after reading these effusive reactions.  Heard so many great things out of the National Theatre run.  And looks like they have some Sunday performances at 7:30 which is terrific 

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/2/22 at 10:10am

Wanted to chime in on the positive notices for this play and production.  Between DOWNSTATE and A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, 42nd Street is having quite the season when it comes to new plays.  

I thought this was a knockout.  What a dynamic piece...and stunningly well-acted.  It was the fastest 2.5 hours I've spent in the theater in a while.  And if the audience response at the curtain call was any indication, the crowd was on the same page.  I can't remember the last time I saw an off Broadway audience respond so rapturously to a new play.  I can't recommend it enough. 

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 11/5/22 at 11:54pm

This play is a testiment to how Bruce Norris is one of our countries best playwrights and how important Steppenwolf is for new American plays

an absolute knockout, in lesser hands this could have been a real mess but the ensemble is just doing fantastic work if this was on broadway K. Todd Freeman and Glynn Davis would be locks for TONY awards 

see this play, it is difficult and is certainly not going to be for everyone but for those who understand what the play is saying it is going to be a highlight of the year for you

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 12:10am

It's riveting theatre. K. Todd Freeman and Francis Guinan are the MVPs and should both be much bigger stars.

Definitely worth seeing at PH because I cannot imagine there would be any audience for it on Broadway without recasting with major stars –– which would take away some of the magic of this ensemble.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 12:13am

absolutely phenomenal piece. a must see. 

i was NOT a fan of Clybourne Park at all, but this is a masterpiece. im not sure i know what The Point of it is, necessarily, but thats beside the point: the 2.5 hours flew by, the writing is sharp/engaging, and the performances the performances the performances. 

All solid, but standouts were Francis Guinan and Glenn Davis, though Tim Hopper and Todd Freeman are also doing incredibly impressive work. I can't remember the last time I saw a play with this many actors giving such lived-in, realistic, complicated character portrayals .

On the one hand, this deserves a transfer for more people can enjoy it, but I can't imagine this would make money given the subject matter, and I really don't see how this would work on a bigger scale. The intimacy of the space is key here.

A must-see.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 1:09am

For me I think the point is

 

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using a subject like Pedophilia as a way to crack open a bigger conversations about the criminal justice and reform system and the hypocrisies within them and for example the hypocrisies of corporal punishment versus capital punishment that gets discussed at one point 

I don't think this play is in anyway asking to have sympathy for these characters but is asking "If we treat people who do this like this" why do we not as one character puts it treat people who "smash the legs of a six year old with a sledgehammer" the same way 

 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 10:50am

Maybe... seems like a broad extrapolation, but i dont want to spoil anything, or nitpick. We can agree its 100% worth seeing either way.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 11:03am

To BoringBored's point

 

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I think it's ultimately a portrait of mental illness. And from that angle you have to have some level of sympathy for these characters, even while having the most sympathy for the victim.

That their actions were wrong is the only black-and-white element of the play; the characters are all so meticulously shaded.

 

Updated On: 11/6/22 at 11:03 AM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 11/6/22 at 8:10pm

I agree with much of BoringBoredBoard40's explanation of "the point of the play". It is mainly about the perversity of the criminal justice system, in particular the US criminal justice system but...

 

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... it is also about the individuals who are the targets of officially sanctioned collective punishment. It is not just the criminal justice system that is torturing the people in the halfway house, it's a bit of a free-for-all where the victimizers of the victimizers can feel righteous about their sadism and hatred. American politicians, pundits and social media are obsessed with this subject but they prefer it unexamined. A huge amount of Americans believe in the QAnon conspiracy and Republicans profit off of it. Norris's play dares to examine the subject in detail and with a great deal of humanity.

 

Updated On: 11/6/22 at 08:10 PM