Marjorie Prime

Saw it last night. Believe it was the first preview. Do not think it will get any better. So as not to be accused of gleefully ripping a show, suffice it to say we did not care for it.

Someone got a comp ticket.

Hear that Hate?

Mr Roxy said: "Hear that Hate?"

Without context, it is hard to say whether two dissenters are correct. PH tends to do work that a lot of people don't appreciate, but I often find myself in the side that does. Mr. Burns, Hir, and The Christians all had walkouts when i went, and I thought they were all excellent. I'm a member there, so I don't have to investigate whether to attend. And I rather sit through a miss than belong to a place that doesn't try to push the boundaries a lot of the time. Part of why I belong there.

This is currently being done at a major equity theater here in the Chicago area and I was delighted at how lovely I found the script. I thought it insightful, funny, and deeply moving.

I'm sorry you didn't like it.

So you knew enough to reply back to me after my first comment, but you can't see the later ones?! You have the most selective user blocking I've ever heard of on here.

I was at the first preview as well, but I actually enjoyed this show. Is it incredible or amazing? No, but I left thinking that was a good show! The acting is great, the writing is great and the themes that are explored (life, death, grief, aging) are interesting and thought provoking. Is the concept a little out there? Yes. But I enjoyed it.

I saw Marjorie Prime at the Taper in Los Angeles and thought the acting was very good (Lois Smith was excellent), but the play suffered from its own pretensions. The premise is intriguing and there were obvious ways to drive the plot, but it felt like the playwright rejected any of those approaches simply because they were so logical. As a result, the play relies on a bunch of contrivances and has a final scene that is supposed to be a bit of a gut-punch, but actually makes no sense given what the play established much earlier.

Updated On: 11/22/15 at 12:34 AM

I was there last night and I'm still trying to process it all. I'm more positive than negative though. The acting was fantastic overall, the idea of the primes was fascinating, and it left me thinking a lot about aging and dying and memory and family but the play felt too short, if that's possible. I was left with more questions than answers at the end. Looking forward to the movie version.

We could not make sense of any of it so we are the wrong people to ask. Sorry.

Sad to say it was boring. We wanted to like it but simply could not.It's one saving grace is that it is only 1:20 minutes long.

Updated On: 11/22/15 at 04:48 PM

I agree it was very well acted. And there were moments when I thought the writing was quite beautiful. But I wasn't buying the Science Fiction aspect of it. It was just silly.

I am not arguing with you, because you think what you think. but I didn't get at all what the set was trying to say. The huge vaulted ceilings. Parts of it, by the couch, looked like a funeral home to me. At least I could buy that, although I have no idea if that is what they are going for.

The wall paper looked anything but futuristic. It look like it could have been in the Golden Girls home. It didn't look clean and crisp to me. It looked unfinished and sterile.
Why was the daughter heartbroken? Because of Margorie? They had a lot of issues with each other. They weren't really that close. She has a line that was something like " You were an ok Mother"... Unless I missed something that you caught, I can't see her doing what she did, where she did it, and how she did it based on the relationship she had with Margorie.

If the Primes had been a part of other people's memory it would have achieved the same thing without the silly Sci Fi nonsense.

I've seen Twilight Zone episodes that were much more brilliant. If it had gone in that direction, I might have been more interested in the story.

Again, it was very pretentious, as was The Christians. Maybe it's me. Or maybe I just don't like the plays Playwrights Horizons chooses. I go to the theatre two or three times a week. I have certain expectations about a play when I know it was a finalist for a Pulitzer. I've seen many other plays that were more deserving of that honor that Marjorie Prime.

I saw the show last night, and loved it. Now, I just want to admit that due to the back-ups in the subway, I missed the first scene (I'm seeing it again tomorrow to see the whole show and because I want another chance to see the material).

The show is very short, but most certainly not slight. In the short 80 minutes, there is much the show says about life, death, and memories. Although the Primes and the characters are from the future, the show is very much about today, without being pretentious, like so many futuristic works. My only problem with the length is that when to two "twists" happen (although they are not really twists, just plot development), they happen so close together they lose their impact. I think there could be another scene before Tess Prime.

The concept of rewriting the past is not new, but this show does it in such a way that it feels new. And the characters are so nuanced and real, even if their language is a little poetic. The scene where Marjorie listens to music is very touching. But the best scene is the final one, and I could not resist shedding a tear when Marjorie Prime said those final words.

The cast is uniformly great. Lois Smith deserves all the praise she's been getting, although she is not really the star of the piece. Stephen Root gives a funny and touching performance and Noah Bean stands out in what is essentially a one scene role. But Lisa Emery remains the focal point of the piece and her wonderfully subdued performance really informs the show.

I would very much recommend this show, and now I am waiting with baited breath for the release of the film!