A Doll's House, Part 2 NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Hnath’s compact and provocative comedy...It's his best work to date...The issues aren't new but presented in intriguing ways...Metcalf, a seasoned stage vet who's known for the sitcom 'Roseanne,' can clown with the best of them. Just saying the word 'no,' Metcalf’s face is an avalanche of motion...Nora was—and is—a woman who bends and breaks rules and lives by her own terms. Fifteen years later, everything and nothing has changed."
Read more

"Helmer Sam Gold knows his players and right from this first scene pairs them in a series of close encounters that feel like fierce, if friendly wrestling matches...Hnath’s dialogue, slangy and vulgar and brightly idiomatic, is full of zingers...Metcalf is amazing, uncovering so many facets to Nora, while retaining the humor to laugh at her idiocies. But by now, we’re starting to suspect that this isn’t really a play, but a very funny and quite biting manifesto...Nora wins every verbal battle."
Read more

"It delivers explosive laughs while also posing thoughtful questions...Directed with stylish austerity by Sam Gold, the play provides a corker of a role for the indomitable Laurie Metcalf...As much an ingenious elaboration and deconstruction of 'A Doll's House' as a sequel, and it stands perfectly well on its own...In Gold's zesty staging, the lightness of touch in the writing carries through to the direction and performances, nowhere more so than with Metcalf."
Read more

"The breakthrough play that the theater world has been waiting for from Hnath...This fast-moving play could so easily have lapsed into superficial theater games. This never occurs...This is due in part to a playwright’s provocative, funny and, ultimately, generous consideration of the implications of Nora’s actions and to a director, Sam Gold, who has helped each of the actors home in with psychological marksmanship on the core motivations of their characters."
Read more

"Hnath has created a fascinating and frequently very funny little play that is less about the issues raised in 'A Doll's House,' and more about returning to greet your former responsibilities...The other takeaway of this quite compelling little exercise is that acts of revolution can flow from privilege...This really is a multilayered performance: you can see Ibsen's Nora herein, plus the woman Nora became and the compassionate cracks in her armor. And Rashad rises up to meet her."
Read more

"Humor abounds in playwright Lucas Hnath’s creative sequel...Metcalf's Nora is a woman who knows her own mind and isn’t afraid to say so. It’s a revelatory performance, rife with physicality and determination...Literary fanfic of the highest caliber, Hnath’s script is an irreverent yet respectful take on the source material...A worthy companion piece to the original, 'A Doll’s House, Part 2' is an imaginative postscript to a well-loved standard."
Read more

"Gold’s direction isn’t always precisely calibrated, but Laurie Metcalf redeems the production with her sorcery...Shifts rapidly from laughter to fury to sorrow to somber acceptance. I can’t think of many performers capable of Metcalf’s fearless extremes. The agility of her acting, the way she can reverse course while making it seem like she’s simply following the logic of her character, is a marvel. Her performance in Hnath’s smart play is one of the headier pleasures of this Broadway season."
Read more

"The play resembles a 90-minute sketch comedy adapted from an undergraduate essay dissecting Ibsen’s play...Director Sam Gold provides a spare production with spirited performances from the four-member cast...As a theater history buff, I found the play interesting, but hardly as engrossing and muscular as Hnath’s work from last season. I look forward to seeing more plays by Hnath — but hopefully not more sequels."
Read more