Sea Wall / A Life (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (239)
See it if Great in relating to life and death
Don't see it if .....
See it if You want to see two new age masters work in the respective wheelhouses. Both provide powerful and dominant performances. WOW.
Don't see it if small plays aren't your thing or if you are looking to take the kids to a "fun" night out.
See it if you have a good attention span! The stories were excellent and really captured the audience, and the acting was phenomenol.
Don't see it if you want a play with more than one person per act
See it if you want to see Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge bare their souls while they tell their stories of life, death, and events in between.
Don't see it if you do not enjoy monologue plays or are not interested in thought provoking topics that make you dig deep and feel a gamut of emotion. Read more
See it if you would enjoy two spectacular monologues, by superb actors, taking you away into these moving stories of the pain we experience in life.
Don't see it if you want a snazzy Broadway show - this has minimal staging, requires you to listen intently and form your own vision of the other characters
See it if You want to hear things from a male perspective. Nice to see two male actors be vulnerable and powerful enough to command the stage alone
Don't see it if You don’t like monologues
See it if You are looking for a profound story on coping with loss. Phenomenal performances by leads.
Don't see it if You do not like deeper/serious subjects.
See it if you want to hear two stories about life and lose or enjoy sobbing quietly with two amazing actors.
Don't see it if you don't like monologues.
Critic Reviews (23)
★★★ "'Sea Wall/A Life' review: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Sturridge bring intimacy to the big stage."
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"The two one act plays in the double bill entitled 'Sea Wall/A Life' are, on the surface, very small works. But they concern some very big themes: life, death, birth."
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"'Sea Wall / A Life,' Jake Gyllenhaal / Tom Sturridge, Life / Death: The two actors return to Broadway for a double bill of solo plays"
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"As delicate as Meissen china yet hard as bedrock are these two solo pieces, each of which offers vexing truths about the fragility of existence, the caprices of fortune, and the sheer mystery of why we are alive. They also showcase two very different, and equally accomplished, performances."
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"Actors Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal, along with their director Carrie Cracknell, have done a lot of determined and highly productive digging into the hearts and souls of the two men who inhabit the pair of monologues."
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★★★★ "'Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Sturridge in Great, Nervous Shape.' Carrie Cracknell forcibly directs tough-minded one-acts by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne"
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★★★★ "'Fathers and Sons, Grappling with Love and Loss.' Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal turn in stirring performances in monologues addressing parenthood and mortality"
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"While both shows have been subtly directed by Carrie Cracknell, neither the actors nor the director can excavate much rich feeling from the essentially pedestrian nature of the writing."
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