THE UNBELIEVERS (Off-Broadway) MTC

i was there tonight. its a pretty chaotic/uneven play, elevated by the two leads that are more or less worth the price of admission.

re the play itself: its told nonlinear, with jump cues that take us from one scene set in, say, the present, to boom, a moment seven years ago. costumes and sets never change, so the play keeps you on your toes trying to follow where we are and where we are going. this works well for a while, but at 1hr 40 mins no intermission, it gets tiring. the bigger problem is that we are meant to watch a family handle a missing son/brother, but we learn very little about him, or the characters aside form their grief/confusion. the play toggles between wit and tragedy, and twice stops in its track to let the older sister sing some sad songs.

the supporting characters are stock, and many of the actors are delivering singsong amateur performances, but at the center Tom Riley and Lauren Ambrose are masterful and keep you riveted. Both are leagues above the material, but Ambrose especially is exquisite. You cant take your eyes off her, and shes "on" at least 90 of the 100 minutes of stage time. Really one of the finer, more focused actresses of our time.

STILL, shes playing an exhausted mother of three, the youngest being 15. I guess that technically works at age 48, but both she and Riley read MUCH younger, and her radiance works against the role here.

the production is unremarkable, handsome, staged simply, though the entire right side of the stage is laid out with pews, as if in a church, with onstage seating for audience and some characters. a bizarre layout- im glad i was center orch.

Updated On: 10/18/26 at 10:46 PM

While the performances here are fantastic, the show really is too long. At 110 no intermission, the conversations start to feel like “haven’t we discussed this already?” On the flip side, I really felt like I knew this family going thru this horrific tragedy so intimately. A part of me knows that after so many years of grief, they were asking the same question. And frankly each time there was a satisfying reason to keep discussing it. I was quite captivated and I do think it’ll sit with me for a while even tho in the latter half a new scene would start and I’d think… okay I guess we’re still going.

A look at the onstage seating narrated by Nick Payne. I'd already bought an MTC35 ticket to sit on stage this weekend, but looks like a really unique setup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NbSh52NaN8

Went to this the other day and really enjoyed. Between this, Cold War Choir Practice, and English, Knud Adams is cementing himself as one of the very best directors in the city, and one with a masterful command on tone. The show can go to quite intense, emotional places but it managed to maintain a sense of lightness so that the proceedings wasn't unbearably dour and inject a healthy amount of humor into the mix.

The performances of the main family are all excellent, especially Ambrose - she is giving a tore de force performance and essentially is onstage for the entire hour and 50 minutes; its bracing, physical and able to turn on a dime.

The play itself is a really well-crafted piece about why people keep faith that also manages to convey the subjective experience of what it feels like to have that faith crush you under its weight. I particularly loved the penultimate scene, the speech that Ambrose gives is beautiful and really clarifies the overall point.

It does tend to spin its wheels (I think it would be stronger overall if 15 minutes were cut) and while great to see a mini-English reunion with Hadi Tabal and Marjan Neshat, I thought their accent work was noticeably bad, particularly Neshat. Overall I’d recommend!

Updated On: 11/5/26 at 10:08 AM

Lauren Ambrose should be remembered come awards time for this one.

Plays is fine - but a little long and repetitive feeling. Ambrose is great. The two songs sung by actor/musician in the show also good (Stereophonic writer).

Opens tonight.

Updated On: 11/5/26 at 01:46 PM