Fool For Love
Closed 1h 15m
Fool For Love
71

Fool For Love NYC Reviews and Tickets

71%
(174 Ratings)
Positive
62%
Mixed
25%
Negative
13%
Members say
Great acting, Intense, Absorbing, Disappointing, Overrated

About the Show

Manhattan Theatre Club presents Sam Shepard's classic play, starring Sam Rockwell and Nina Arianda; former lovers holed up in a seedy motel unpack deep, dark secrets and desires of their tangled relationship.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (174)

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97 Reviews | 64 Followers
90
Absorbing, Great acting, Edgy, Intense, Slow

See it if you love great acting, utterly messy love, and the occasional lasso toss.

Don't see it if the intense slow burn of Sam Shepard's dramas of wrecked lives make you want to hang yourself with a lasso.

hw
284 Reviews | 54 Followers
88
Absorbing, Dizzying, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Resonant

See it if you want to experience echt sam shepard performed by a brilliant cast.

Don't see it if you want something fluffy, unserious or undemanding

69 Reviews | 91 Followers
88
Absorbing, Funny, Great acting, Intense, Sexy

See it if You are a fan of Sam Rockwell or Nina Arianda, who are both amazing here, and have fantastic chemistry together!!

Don't see it if You can't handle 75 mins without an intermission, I suppose.

683 Reviews | 161 Followers
86
Compelling, Sexy, Volatile, Intimate, Uneven script

See it if you want to see some gripping performances in an explosive, flawed modern classic.

Don't see it if Shepard writing at the height of his macho style does not thrill you. Read more

55 Reviews | 34 Followers
86
Absorbing, Edgy, Great acting, Intense, Dark

See it if This was a really intense show and the actors were all wonderful.

Don't see it if It's a dark story so not one to go to in a bad mood

127 Reviews | 13 Followers
86
Great writing, Slow, Disappointing

See it if you can because the writing is very good.

Don't see it if like happily ever after endings.

138 Reviews | 87 Followers
85
Great acting, Resonant, Riveting, Must see, Powerful

See it if If you like the 2 Sams (Shepard and Rockwell). Fascinating. Primal. Excellent cast. Excellent writing. Well directed.

Don't see it if You don't like difficult material.

123 Reviews | 57 Followers
85
Intense, Masterful, Refreshing, Slow

See it if You want to see a gripping portrait of a toxic relationship in all its brutal glory. Stunning performances by Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell.

Don't see it if You can't handle the intense subject matter, or are looking for something other than a one room descent into emotional savagery.

Critic Reviews (58)

The Hollywood Reporter
October 8th, 2015

"Aukin and his actors hit all the right beats, punctuating the sexually charged action with the loud slamming of doors and bodies. But the heat only occasionally rises above a simmer, and despite all the tequila being gulped onstage, the whole thing feels a tad too correct."
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Entertainment Weekly
October 8th, 2015

"The slamming, which produces a stereo boom you can feel in your organs, eventually becomes rote and numbing. As does much else in this staunch, uninvolving production, which features tempestuous performers in Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell, but offers them not much more than glum platitudes on bad romance...The feeling nags that this was a production simply too small for Broadway. "
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Los Angeles Times
October 8th, 2015

"Daniel Aukin's production is sensationally acted...Arianda vividly embodies the conflict between May's sensuality and shame...But the revelation for me was Rockwell, who sheds new light on Eddie...The nonrealistic elements of the production are a tad too italicized here."
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AM New York
October 8th, 2015

"The thin 70-minute drama is essentially an unsettling character study with a sense of mystery behind it. Daniel Aukin's focused, highly physical revival is built around the intense interplay between Arianda, who evokes both a hurt young girl and a torrent of violent emotion, and Rockwell, who coolly struts around and cockily plays with his lasso as if he were the Marlboro Man."
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NY1
October 8th, 2015

"When 'Fool for Love' opened 32 years ago, it sent shock waves through the theatre community...In the current revival, the impact is decidedly less arresting...Amid all that sound and fury, there is not much in this play that resonates beyond some stylish writing and a chance for a quartet of fine actors to strut their stuff."
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Theatermania
October 8th, 2015

"Spare and evocative new production...MTC should be applauded for producing this challenging work in such a primo venue, but one suspects that the eerie experiential effect would be even greater in a more intimate space. Here's hoping for an immersive 'Fool for Love' in our future."
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Lighting & Sound America
October 9th, 2015

"Under Daniel Aukin's pinpoint direction, Arianda and Rockwell so fully inhabit their characters that we can easily believe that we are spying on a pair of lovers whose long-running and highly destructive affair is in its endgame...It's surprising that it has taken more than 30 years for 'Fool for Love' to get a first-class New York revival, but this excellent company was well worth the wait. In their hands, this looks to be Shepard's masterpiece, his work most likely to stand the test of time."
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Talkin' Broadway
October 8th, 2015

"By the end you may have forgotten what genuine, all-encompassing heat actually feels like on the skin and in the blood. For a play whose entire raison d'être is exploring the vital but vicious codependence that can form between two people when they're thrust together under less-than-ideal circumstances, this is something of an impediment...At its heart, this production is irredeemably nice, perhaps the most devastating quality for any 'Fool for Love.'
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