The Edge of Our Bodies

See it if You enjoy plays that are basically monologues. You are familiar with Jean Genet’s The Maids, and are interested in its influences !

Don't see it if A very bright spotlight set so that it shines in your eyes will be intolerable ! I found the set and blocking of this play amateurish !

See it if You enjoy the writing of the greatest playwright ever.

Don't see it if You are expecting a normal Adam rapp type show. This is a solo show

Also I am The wrong person to ask about an Adam Rapp play. In my mind the guy can do no wrong. This is by far the worst play by him I have ever seen and it still great. If you go into this play thinking that you are getting a normal play there is a good chance you will be disappointed. I thought it was extremely clever the way they staged the set. It’s basically a girl reading a story from a diary. It is much more than that. I could sit anywhere and listen to the words of this Play right Four different people stopped me on the way out of the theater asking me questions about play because they didn’t understand it. I don’t think they thought I was a genius but they were just looking for answers. When you can create that affect on people I think you have done your job in this play deserves a much higher rating... Read more Read less

See it if solo shows, monologues & short story form, small space further separated by scrim, how will she keep this going for 80 minutes, intrigue you

Don't see it if one hander [with janitor interuptus] exploring short story form as a monologue, strobes, bare bulb lighting, would drive you crazy

See it if you are interested in a solo show about a teenager trying to connect and find some excitement in her life in desperate and unhealthy ways.

Don't see it if you don’t like solo shows or were hoping for something more thrilling or insightful. The stage design was dark and noir, but story was not.

See it if Watching a young woman fall through the cracks both physically and emotionally while a mesh curtain separates her from the audience .

Don't see it if Do not see if you are sensitive to experiencing intensity of life’s struggles.This is not light entertainment.

See it if You want to see every Rapp play regardless. You are fine with peculiar staging, odd plot and implausible monologue.

Don't see it if You have high expectations for an Adam Rapp work.

Also This was my 19th Rapp play, and while they were not all great, they have kept me eager for the next. There is plenty of strange in his work, but no matter how squirrelly, there is a ring of truth. This does not sound of a 16 year old girl. The staging probably didn't help.... Read more Read less

See it if You like dark, confusing solo shows with great acting and an absorbing story.

Don't see it if You are looking for something light, or don't like solo shows and minimalistic productions.

See it if You want to see a powerhouse performance in a one-person show. You enjoy dark coming of age stories such as Catcher in the Rye.

Don't see it if You do not enjoy one-person shows. You are not a Catcher in the Rye fan.

Also I was a little conflicted about this production.

Carolyn Molloy, first off, was magnetic. I cannot wait to see her in whatever she's in next.

The script though, is slightly unbelievable coming from a sixteen year old. I realize there's something subconsciously sexist about people challenging the notion that this sixteen year old girl speaks in grandiose prose, but buy it from Holden Caulfield.

It just struck me as not particularly authentic. A middle-aged man's imagination of what a teenaged girl might be like.

There is also the rather confusing plot device of her diary. Or book. Or something. It's difficult to say what she's writing and differentiate between that and when she's just narrating aloud.

Even more confusing is the timeline once the initial day is over. And the ending feels very much like the timer simply just ran out.

But there's lots to like in this production as well. The set design is clever and effective, and it will stay with you after you leave.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see a greatly acted solo performance of a very confusing show. You don't mind being bored and confused for over an hour.

Don't see it if you want to see a show that makes sense, one you can figure out, one that is fast paced.

Also The show was well-acted, but very confusing Without some background, you have no idea what's going on or where. Difficult to imagine the character as a 16 yr old.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to watch a fabulous actress carry an absorbing, dark and deliciously penned tale.

Don't see it if You want something especially theatrical - this could easily be an audiobook.

See it if Great acting about deep issues

Don't see it if If you aren’t interested in emotions.

See it if You liked Catcher in the Rye; this is mostly a gender-flopped that, even down to an awkward hotel room sex scene.

Don't see it if You don't like unreliable narrators, Catcher in the Rye, or teenagers who think they're sophisticated and grown.

See it if like solo person theatre. The actress works hard and it's much appreciated. However, I found the piece a little self-indulgent.

Don't see it if you prefer only BIG productions. The theatre is quite small and you feel like you are in the play.

See it if Very well written early Rapp that is at times lyrical and poetic

Don't see it if basically a one women show but it pulls it off beautifully.

See it if you like one-person shows (except for a tiny appearance by a second person) that tell rather than showing the story.

Don't see it if you want dramatic action.

Also I was excited to go to another Adam Rapp play. I've been a fan. But I was extremely disappointed. This is more a radio play than a stage play. The visual quirks (red lights, wolf rug, etc.) didn't make up for the lack of dramatic action.... Read more Read less

See it if You are a fan of Catcher in the Rye.

Don't see it if You have a little patience for teenagers.

See it if The well acted telling of a nicely written, edgy story passes for theater. Esp. Teen age girl reliving dark, dysfunctional, adult incidents.

Don't see it if You're looking for a well directed, nicely staged play. Having a short story dramatically recited and performed by one actor isn't enough.

See it if you like challenges to the traditional play that are based in an appreciation of what theater has historically done & might again do.

Don't see it if you are expecting standard, dialogue-based drama—though there’s a bit of that too.

Also For its writing, acting & design this production is exhilarating. A 16-year old girl takes a train from New Haven to NYC to tell her college-age boyfriend she’s pregnant, but they never meet up. The story isn’t told in a traditional series of scenes. In a dim, hermetic, oval-shaped playing space enclosed in a gauzy curtain, the girl, in school uniform & raincoat, first reads her tale, then tells it, then enacts it in a series of acutely etched encounters. The audience surrounds the girl. At one point with the aid of an anachronistic reel-to-reel tape she erupts into a raucous rock number, the depository for what she can’t say. Before the end, a maintenance man enters to pull back the curtain, turn up the lights & warn the actor she has only so much time. Is this a sound stage to which the girl has come to collect her story? That she’s told us she’s a student actor contributes to the layers of playing that complicate but cannot smother her unmistakable cry of the soul.... Read more Read less

See it if Like theatre 2 be mysterious, ponderable, eccentric, untraditional & dark. Not 4 all, but if you like good storytelling, this one's for you.

Don't see it if Want linear plot or everything answered. Don't want to be challenged, don't like story of a disaffected teen who spins an edgy tale.

See it if Rapp’s story follows an aspiring writer/performer as she develops her persona, describing the impact of behavior, alcohol, time and cancer.

Don't see it if You are expecting it to be more of a play with acting than a monologue that’s mostly talking. You don’t like one-handers.

See it if you like a fairly well written story about a young woman attempting to survive and deal with pressures & situations in present day society.

Don't see it if you expect to see a traditional "play" and not a short story told in a monologue, which is what this performance is.

See it if really well acted and you some of the elments of Rapp at his best

Don't see it if the director fails to bring out the central point.

Also The director makes the girl the focus, while a character that never appears, and how he is treated by those he loves, is actually the central character in the play.... Read more Read less

See it if If you’re a fan of Adam Rapp and enjoy his quirky plays

Don't see it if you want to see a well thought out play. This more of a one person monologue.

Also There was a very bright red light, coming from a box on stage, that flashed in my eyes during the play. Needless to say, it was very annoying.... Read more Read less

See it if You love language and coming of age stories.

Don't see it if You don’t like 1 women monologues with no frills for 80 minutes

See it if Dark monologue read from her diary by 16 year old New England private school student who seems to be confined in a mysterious sound studio.

Don't see it if You don't like monologues.