See it if you like well written and acted pieces, performed in a well run house.
Don't see it if you're expecting a huge broadway spectacle.
See it if you enjoy laughing at life's struggles. Great acting, great screenplay, all around fun and relevant performance.
Don't see it if . Don't see if sex, alcohol and grieving are not want you are in for. Not for a young audience. Drama yes, but with a lot of laughs.
See it if You want a clever, fun character piece in a tight one act show. Amber Tamblyn was fantastic. Easy show to digest and enjoy.
Don't see it if You don't like funny character plays. or plays about our inner dysfunction.
See it if You want to see a show about what we owe and are owed by the people in our lives.
Don't see it if You are anti women with opinions or don't want to look at your own relationship to money and the transactional nature of relationships. Read more
See it if You like Amber Tamblyn: she was really terrific. You are willing to wait through a not great act to get to the good stuff - a real slow burn
Don't see it if You are easily offended by language, talk of sex, or drunkenness. You want all likeable characters. Read more
See it if you like dark comedies or are a fan of Amber Tamblyn or Frank Wood. I enjoyed it and laughed more than I expected to
Don't see it if don't if you're offended by foul language or you're looking for something upbeat
See it if You'd enjoy a well acted and highly entertaining dark comedy about dysfunctional relationships.
Don't see it if You are tired of plays about dysfunctional relationships.
See it if you want to see a great comedic performance by Amber Tamblyn who plays a drunk prostitute and unravels more and more throughout the night.
Don't see it if you're looking for something serious or profound. It's a good dark comedy, but the strength lies a lot in the strong performances by cast.
“A work still finding its footing…The problem isn't Gionfriddo's ear for snappy dialogue, which is on full display…It's the outlandish characters she's created combined with the situations she's placed them in which defy credulity…Gionfriddo's writing takes on an absurdist quality that, while amusing in Wood's capable hands, is at odds with the play that's come previously…By the time we get to the end of ‘Can You Forgive Her?,’ we've stopped caring.”
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“Neither Tanya nor Miranda are especially engaging or witty characters...A rather silly, unbelievable and way too talky farce…If all this sounds loaded with comic potential, it is. But that potential is only sporadically realized and the farcical proceedings are too muddled to work as either farce or satire…The actors all do their utmost to make us care about their not especially sympathetic characters.”
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“While most of the audience remained stony-faced, my companion and I were laughing hysterically throughout much of ‘Can You Forgive Her?,’ a black comedy if ever there was one, by Gina Gionfriddo, at the Vineyard Theatre. It may be that many in the audience failed to recognize it was a comedy, and took it far too seriously, which is somewhat understandable, given the seemingly earnest yet cockamamie story--or rather stories--that unfold.”
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"A sharp dissection of the American dream, and digging into what that means, in the guise of a dark comedy...The dialogue is witty and well-crafted, and each member of the ensemble brings their own strengths to round out the characters...Tamblyn gives a truly great performance, gracefully steering the play and its ensemble...This complicated web of characters keeps the drama high at an almost farcical pace...Certainly worthy of attention."
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“Among the most colorful, quirky characters you’ll see on the stage this season…Suffice it to say that it’s delightful to spend an hour and a half with these zany folks, whose antics have been directed with skill and precision by DuBois. ‘Can You Forgive Her?’ addresses substantial themes like love, money, work, commitment and parenthood...Gionfriddo takes us for a wild, entertaining ride and at the same time gives us a meaningful moral."
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“Two-thirds of the way through 'Can You Forgive Her,' the excellent character actor Frank Wood turns up as David, a slightly sociopathic plastic surgeon. If only his character had been around earlier to perform an emergency nip and tuck on the scene that precedes his entrance, this would have been a breezy 75 minutes of offbeat fun. But, a 20-minute expository back and forth between its two leads bogs down the proceedings…The actors all find their moments of subtlety.”
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“Gionfriddo assembles a complicated group of characters together with hopes that the alcohol and drama will erase some of the idiosyncrasies within the story. The script rides well and fast through the middle of the play, but stumbles at moments of transition and engagement. We are left scratching our heads in befuddlement as the drunken drama escalates...The actors are all doing their best finding the solid emotionality within the dynamics, but the view is never clear.”
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"The bulk of Gionfriddo’s improbable play centers on conversations between Graham and Miranda—most of them convoluted and improbable and not terribly engaging...'Can You Forgive Her' seems unfinished, unresolved...The characters are less than believable and less than interesting...There’s a lot to forgive here and it might start with the playwright. There is not much director Peter DuBois and the talented cast can do to fix what ails 'Can You Forgive Her.'"
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