BLKS NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (144)
See it if you want to laugh, you want to scream, you want theater outside the usual box.
Don't see it if you hate black people. Actually, still see it. It's humane and unapologetic about its characters - a stance everyone could learn from.
See it if You want something different and current in a show.
Don't see it if You want a cookie cutter play.
See it if you are ready to see the world through the eyes of Black Female 20 somethings, like to laugh while being made to think
Don't see it if you don't like cursing and sexual innuendo, aren't ready to deal with racism from a Black perspective Read more
See it if you want to see a very talented cast put on a great (+ hilarious) show that touches on a lot without hitting you over the head with anything
Don't see it if you don't relate to people in their 20s/30s
See it if you’d enjoy a day-in-the-life comedy about a group of friends. There is much humor & resonance in the proceedings; it’s a lively experience.
Don't see it if you don’t like humor based in realistic situations (some funny, some sad). I can’t imagine going to this and not enjoying the talented cast.
See it if you want a comedic look at the lives and issues of young black females.
Don't see it if you can't handle profanity, violence, simulated sex or revolving stages.
See it if You want a master class in comedic writing that focuses on issues that aren’t often seen in the NY theatre scene.
Don't see it if You want something serious or are offended by LGBT issues or sexual situations.
See it if If you like contemporary themes acted by real people with funny lines in the midst. You like to get sucked into the lives of the characters
Don't see it if If you want a light comedy and don’t like the loud screams and crude topics the play covers and prefer sugar coated theater.
Critic Reviews (21)
"Poet Aziza Barnes' first play,'BLKS,' now at MCC, is raucous, vulgar, outrageous and contemporary in Robert O'Hara's hilarious, over-the-top production. Following the adventures of three black women roommates from Brooklyn over a day and a half, it shows us how the Girls are living today - Lena Dunham would approve. However, the loud and busy production in the Newman Mills Theater stage will thrill twenty and thirty somethings, while older people may not be in tune with it."
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"Barnes's snappy dialogue is brought to vivid life by the three lead performers, and O'Hara...adopts a judicious approach, knowing where to exercise restraint and where to go all out...The script—funny yet thoughtful, raunchy but human—marks a promising playwriting debut from Barnes...Its thoughtfulness and moments of poignancy are skillfully realized through strong direction and an able cast, giving this compelling new work the production it deserves."
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"It transcends all of those hashtags thanks to the directing and the excellent ensemble cast that combines their talents to lift the play out of sitcom and stereotype and let the audience in past the defensiveness of immaturity...The play is ultimately about something that everyone on this planet strives for, the universal search for love. What it does different is, it puts us in the passenger seat for a great ride in a vehicle that we don’t often get a chance to cruise in to get there."
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"'BLKS' has landed rather weakly on the stage of the Newman Mills Theater...The members of the cast do what they can to expose their ennui and their pain. Unfortunately, the set and the direction often get in the way of Aziza Barnes’s seditious script. This current iteration of 'BLKS' plays more like a sitcom than perhaps it should and the seriousness, the somberness of the play’s message becomes lost...It fails to deliver the pathos and ethos necessary to ignite the needed catharsis."
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"True, a lot seems to happen during the 24 hours or so in which 'BLKS' takes place, but the play is so cleverly constructed you don't immediately notice. It also never falls into the realm of situation comedy, despite the bucketload of profanity-laced punchlines. Moreover, Barnes smartly interweaves the political and personal throughout the one-act work, even if some of the heavier moments she inserts into the piece can feel a tad heavy-handed."
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"Piles on exaggerated situations but lacks a well-wrought plot, revels in broad sitcom tropes, and uses boldly raunchy dialogue…Directed…with overly pumped up performances in which quiet moments of human connection are only rarely to be found. Shouting too often substitutes for conversation…Hyperactive staging employs a tiresomely revolving set…that tries to keep pace with the multiple locales but succeeds only in drawing attention to itself."
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"Gilbert and Fuller spend too little time together on stage. O’Hara’s fiercely kinetic direction clearly suits these two gifted actors whose gangbuster portrayals take no prisoners...Barnes deftly handles her characters’ sexual fluidity, but near the end of 'BLKS' she adds a few sentimental touches that even Neil Simon didn’t resort to in his 1960s heyday...Seeing the 100-minute 'BLKS' is to tour Brooklyn at night and wake-up wasted. But in a good way."
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"There are some hilarious moments, but they do not cohere into a satisfying whole...The prevailing comic mood is occasionally punctured by casual mention of issues related to the Black Lives Matter movement, as if they were items on a checklist...O’Hara keeps things moving briskly but too frequently encourages the actors to shout. The closer you are to the demographic of the characters, the likelier you are to enjoy the play."
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