I am the first to say: I won't talk you out of your rave, so don't talk me out of my reservations. Mentioned because this play seems to provoke a certain amount of "You just don't understand Baker, particularly her silence." I do understand both the Baker oeuvre and her reliance on pauses. I'm a fan of silence in the theater, particularly when so much direction seems presentational, characters cheating down and out performatively (which I thought overcooked Goodnight, Oscar, at least its first hour, and robbed the final 30 minutes -- the genuinely performative section of the play, the Paar Show - of its contrasting rewards; the whole play felt like a TV show to me, thanks to that push in the direction...)
But silence - to be golden - must arrive between textual content that illuminates, engages, electrifies, unsettles. Silence for silence sake can be a deadly drag on momentum, whether a structural framework has a suspense line or not (and this play decidedly does, once the male character appears and introduces Eros as a component of both pain and healing.) Silence without substance can feel like a sandwich without a filling: two pieces of toast.
This play is ambitious and thoughtful but to me still under realized, pauses and silence fully endorsed for their ability to weight human experience and their depiction in the theater.
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Updated On: 9/9/23 at 11:41 AM
Some pretty great reviews! As always, Sara Holdren’s review is incredibly insightful (thank God she’s back).
Swing Joined: 4/26/22
What do we think the likelihood of an extension. I know they have to get the production up and ready at National Theatre in London. I talked to someone that works at the Atlantic and they said they could extend for one week only if it sold well. I'm in the city 2nd weekend of October, would love if this were still running!!
You got your wish, Wesley. It's extended through 10/14.
Updated On: 9/13/23 at 04:41 PMSwing Joined: 4/26/22
Oh boy!! I manifested it!!
where are you seeing this information?
trying to catch Hansol Jung’s new play and the Dearh of a Salesman in China thing at Connelly that weekend!
On the show's calendar:
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1169868/1696132800000
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/18
If anyone happens to have 2 tickets to the 10/14 matinee, please let me know. Name your price, LOL. (Or I’ll trade you 2 of my HERE WE ARE tix.)
My performance was cancelled due to COVID in the cast, and the Atlantic did not handle the situation well, so I was shut out of all of the other performances that could have worked for me.
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