Saw the show tonight.
Personally, I thought that A Life was better than Sea Wall. What's interesting here is that Sea Wall has actually been around for over a decade, whereas (I believe) this is the premiere of A Life. But the two pieces are very similar to each other. So you could make a case that A Life is really derivative of Sea Wall. Except that A Life just does it all so much better.
Both plays deal with the loss of a loved one, but while Sea Wall uses the tragedy to punch the audience in the gut with a horrifyingly tragic event, Sea Wall feels more organic, honest, and relatable. It also actually DEALS with the emotions of it in a nuanced way, as opposed to Sea Wall which just feels like a young playwright trying to come up with something tragic just for the sake of having superficial impact on the audience.
Both stories are told non-linearly, and similar to what I said above, Sea Wall's non-linear structure feels like a stylistic flare, just to add suspense and intrigue to the story. Meanwhile the non-linear structure in A Life feels absolutely essential to the content of the play, and the ideas being presented.
Both actors are strong, but again I have to give the edge to Gyllenhaal's performance in A Life, which just feels more dynamic, and it feels like he's embracing the text more.
Any time two pieces are done on the same bill, or done in rep, you have to ask the question: why pair these two plays together? On the surface, it might seem really obvious here, because the two plays are so similar. But I would argue that they are TOO similar to each other. They are both essentially saying the same thing, so putting them together feels redundant. There's no dialogue between them, no push-and-pull. They don't add up to anything greater than the sum of each individual play. So putting them together feels redundant. Having said that, something is done with the ending that attempts to tie them together. It doesn't entirely work, but it's a beautiful moment, and effective on a more visceral level.
Despite my criticisms, I'd say this is worth it for the performances, and for the 2nd play. If you're really on the fence about this, I might even suggest sitting out the first one and popping in at intermission (which comes roughly at 8:45)
