Can You Forgive Her? NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (166)
See it if You enjoy watching the work of a playwright with a great ear for dialogue with actors who can pull it off well.
Don't see it if You are yearning for something action-packed.
See it if You are a fan of Amber Tamblyn. You like plays about relationships, letting go, and moving on.
Don't see it if Sexual situations or talk disturb you. You dislike addiction problems in plays. You prefer "normal" relationships. Read more
See it if you look back on your Road Less Taken and see a lot of credit debt, bad boyfriends, and regret. One changes, one hopes to (or does she?).
Don't see it if all your life choices are straight as an arrow, you balance your checkbook, etc. These people are real, but you might have avoided them.
See it if This is a solid and funny new play with a nice performance from Amber Tamblyn.
Don't see it if This seemed like a step backward for Gina Gionfriddo and was a bit underwhelming as a whole.
See it if Witty fast paced dialogue
Don't see it if Don't like character driven shoes
See it if you're interested in a play that deals with money and class in a fresh and interesting way; you want an Amber Tamblyn acting masterclass.
Don't see it if you prefer plays with more sets or characters. This is a single-set, four-character piece that is funny and intense, but moves slowly.
See it if You like a character who is unapologetically parasitic and opportunistic. You feel better seeing people worse off that you are.
Don't see it if You don't like explorations of ultra dysfunctional relationships in which no one is beyond reproach.Unsure who I was being asked to forgive
See it if you enjoy stories about dysfunctional relationships or people who are downtrodden.
Don't see it if you're looking for a pick-me-up or likeable characters. There are some laughs in this, but the focus is really on life's harsh realities.
Critic Reviews (29)
“The tone of the play lies halfway between overblown TV sit-com and absurdist satire, with convoluted plot points, unlikely conversations, and unlikable stereotypes that are less amusing or engaging than they are exaggerated and aggravating…The cast is unsympathetic in its characterizations of the unappealing and profoundly flawed personalities…‘Can You Forgive Her?,’ the answer is a resounding no. It’s hard to forgive, to laugh at, or to care about any of these irritating characters."
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“Gionfriddo’s carpentered play is nailed together with so many contrivances it defies credulity. Worse, the bulk of its 90 minutes is consumed with dialoguing about the past, which does not make for much action...Tamblyn is OK, and manages to elicit a few chuckles from the audience, but I’m not sure even a great actress with magical comic powers could do much with the part…There isn’t much dramatic or particularly amusing about this really blah situational melodrama.”
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“Nonsensical, pretentious, and ill-conceived play...There is little that is amusing…There is also very little in Ms. Gionfriddo’s writing that makes these characters believable and the structure of the play anything more than a very forced set of circumstances…Each of the actors appears to make a decent effort toward creating believable characters even though the writing is so broad and their actions so inconsistent that the viewer cannot help but say ‘come on now, really?’”
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"The play carefully weaves together pieces of the past and present through farce and character interaction...There’s a lot of dysfunction between this small cast of characters...The results are funny and jarring at the same time. Tamblyn is very good at a playing a self-absorbed woman...With Gionfriddo’s snappy and witty dialogue, the play moves quickly. There are plot devices that aren’t fully recognized...But the playwright had a lot of characters to deal with in a short amount of time."
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"Amber Tamblyn delivers a delightful and often wickedly funny performance in Gionfriddo’s engaging play...Gionfriddo’s characters have a heightened quality that is both satirical and sincere. Not only do they say exactly what is on their minds with seemingly no filter, the other characters accept this in a way that you rarely find in real life. The cast, under Peter DuBois’ astute direction, take well to this style, resulting in dialogue exchanges that positively crackle."
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