Beckett in the City: The Women Speak NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (4)
See it if you are a Beckett fan or want to see new insights into 4 of his frequently-performed plays. Exquisite acting.
Don't see it if you are not familiar with the work of Samuel Beckett. Or if your taste runs to more conventional theatre.
See it if you want to see three older and brilliant Irish actresses who do justice to the poetry of Beckett's words.
Don't see it if ! want to see a more traditional play . Read more
See it if Ideal Beckett! U=happy to watch slow, repetitive movements in near darkness & compare to your own slow, repetitive movements toward death!
Don't see it if Beckett’s style is irredeemable, or you’re unfamiliar w/ the playwright—this could be excruciating for someone w/ no idea what to expect Read more
See it if Love Beckett and want to see it done well. One may not understand it but it still should be seen. And in a site-specific relevant space.
Don't see it if Looking for fluff.
Critic Reviews (7)
"Powerfully articulates the theme of powerlessness. The stirring actresses use their lined faces and roughened voices to fill out the material, making the experience less abstract and terrifying. Still, it’s tough to maintain an air of horror and extremity when each vignette is preceded by a good-natured scramble for floor cushions...It seemed silly to wander from one black box to the next, especially when this relative freedom of movement contrasted with the imprisonment of the women onstage."
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"Hauntingly beautiful and brilliantly performed, these plays are must-see gems...These works include some of the most provocative and beautiful images in modern theater, and Scaife's direction makes them achingly resonant...A superb opportunity to experience four minor masterpieces in an evocative, nontraditional venue...These tender and tragic depictions of women rank among Beckett's best creations, and this exquisite production allows their profound, poetic voices to be heard."
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“‘The Women Speak’ achingly articulates the ramshackle body of the female in nationalist Ireland…That all these calamities run into ‘Come and Go,’ a choreographed drama about three gossipy women on a bench, brings new consequence…‘I can feel the rings’ claims one of them at the end, though according to Beckett's instructions none are apparent. Yet there are circular lines in Scaife's haunting production: those repeated tragedies of Ireland's women, still revolving today.”
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“Scaife makes some wonderfully innovative use of this near-derelict building…‘Not I’…is too interested in accentuation and timbre….All three actors…execute ‘Come and Go’ with studied grace yet it is here that the venue served the production least well…Although the entreatment to consider Beckett’s representations of women in relation to a specifically Irish history of marginalization is unconvincing, ‘The Women Speak’ movingly reminds us of the humanizing power of Beckett’s work.”
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“Beckett could resemble just another punishing patriarchal figure. But Company SJ’s continuing project…recognizes his grim sense of empathy, here summoning a political contour for these glimpses of incarceration, burden, and disintegration…Under Scaife’s careful direction, fine performances allow for elucidating echoes…When the performers finally convene on old school chairs for 'Come and Go,' a Möbius strip of birth, struggle and death, the intent comes full circle.”
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“A production that focuses on atmosphere and lighting, while keeping the words of the master at its heart...They are rewarding and complex pieces. The lighting is one of the more striking things, and also the use of projections onto the walls of the building...The performances are varied, with one piece being a crash of words and the next slow and thoughtful. This is a subtle and rich show that could take repeated viewing, and a treat for any Beckett fan.”
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“Scaife proves herself a theatre artist of breathtaking talent and compass…A searing, draining experience, with Scaife's direction of each of the plays offering new insights, no matter how familiar one may be with both text and performance…A perfect setting for the actors who cry out from memory and for recognition. In Scaife's hands, this place is both their soul and their body…Ni Neachtain's cadences are devastating."
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