A Delicate Ship NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (6)
See it if you want to see a contemporary play about young (30something) people trying to sort out their lives in a fascinating manner.
Don't see it if you dislike relationship plays or plays with some ambiguous details.
See it if tend to reflect on what-ifs and the roads not taken; you wonder if you are like your parents, you have romantic exes who still haunt you
Don't see it if you dislike relationship dramas, fourth-wall-breaking philosophizing about the meaning of time
See it if you appreciate see-worthy new work that's as emotional as it is literate, with a yar ensemble that's wonderfully alert to each other.
Don't see it if it's hard to connect with characters who quite Kierkegaard. The play is delicate & small, so won't appeal if you want set& costume changes.
See it if complicated and complex interpersonal relationships do it for you, or if the lives and loves of millenials are intriguing.
Don't see it if you're easily annoyed by personality quirks that become heightened over the length of a play.
See it if you want to see great performances in a sweet little play.
Don't see it if you have trouble with characters turning out and narrating.
See it if You love art
Don't see it if You're bored easily
Critic Reviews (18)
"Ms. Ziegler’s quietly lyrical language has a luminous beauty, and her talent for creating characters whose complicated depths are just visible on their surfaces is still more remarkable. She has found a sympathetic director in Margot Bordelon, who gives the play’s fluid structure a strong grounding in reality that never interferes with its elliptical aura. And it’s impossible to imagine a cast better able to infuse Ms. Ziegler’s story of love, pain and loss with more natural poetry, or more piercing honesty."
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"Were Ziegler (who makes origami of time) not so deft, the situation might lend itself to sitcom banality. She digs beneath the laughs, of which there are plenty, to plumb the pain that lurks below."
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"It is an odd confluence of events that was not grounded in a 'because' – and that diminishes the believability of the story from the start...The play’s lack of structure coupled with the conclusion that is no surprise deprives us of an opportunity to empathize with any of these characters."
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"Anna Ziegler’s compact, compelling Off-Broadway play glides along until eventually sinking into melodrama...“A Delicate Ship” ends up being too tidy for its own good. Still, Ziegler’s voice comes through. And she’s got plenty to say."
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"The play is competently written, but lacks any noticeable personality. Who are these people? Why should we care about them? In many ways 'A Delicate Ship' is typical of a certain contemporary American drama. Bred at elite universities and workshopped to death, it’s as overprocessed and tasteless as American cheese. Watching the show, you find yourself wishing for imperfections. In other words, for a sign of life."
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"A gorgeously sweet and sad three-character drama being given an excellent production by the Playwrights Realm... Ziegler has written a lovely piece that not only has the musicality of a fugue, but also contains an emotional center that will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a relationship end. That Ziegler's script has been given such an engaging production is almost an added bonus. Director Margot Bordelon guides her cast into three deeply felt, thoroughly human performances."
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"An out of this world script with talented actors who can pull it off...Sadness and confusion and memories are intricately bound throughout 'A Delicate Ship.' The hilarity that stems out of awkwardness is a spectacular construct that Ziegler captures. Paired with director Margot Bordelon's through-the-roof talent, this production, or rather this 'ship,' not only got me across the ocean, but I enjoyed every second. All aboard!"
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"Three of New York’s best Off-Broadway actors are attempting to keep Anna Ziegler’s 'A Delicate Ship' afloat in Margot Bordelon’s generally effective production for the Playwrights Realm. Sometimes compelling but too often talky and irritating, 'A Delicate Ship,' on the surface at least, is a straightforward, seventy-five minute, romantic triangle drama...It doesn’t quite sink, but it’s nonetheless a somewhat leaky vessel."
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