The Same NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (11)
See it if you love to be thrown into the center of the action. If you love unraveling mysteries.
Don't see it if you need to be ahead of the story.
See it if you are looking for innovative ways that theater can explore the boundaries of time and character/personality construction. Great staging!
Don't see it if you are opposed to a type of theater that forces you to come to terms with the ambivalence of facts. The writing is erratic and can be a lot
See it if you enjoy the work of Edna Walsh & want to see a production that excels in direction, design and acting.
Don't see it if you don't want to be frustrated by Walsh's purposefully confusing (yet still wholly engaging) piece.
See it if Is the pass present, or is the present pass, and are we the same? Enda wrote for 2 great Irish sisters/actors (esp. Eileen) in 47 minutes.
Don't see it if You only like linear play and don’t like immersive theatre settings.
See it if like Walsh's absurdist plays, even more confusing than his others, with 2 characters in a puzzling relationship; thought-provoking dialogue
Don't see it if don't like enigmatic plays with no plot, want easy answers, don't want immersive seating - reception area style seats spread around the room Read more
See it if Like excellent acting. Are interested in issues of mental health and illness. Like intimate, in-the-round immersive theatre.
Don't see it if Want audience anonymity. Need linearity and clarity. Aren't bothered by an intimate representation of mental illness.
See it if To experience all genre of theatre, to be challenged, think, wonder and piece together the story being told.
Don't see it if don’t like the above or dislike immersive theatre. This story doesn’t come to conclusion and everyone lived happily ever after. You decide.
See it if You like immersive, intimate, absurdist theater - this show is deliberately confusing as it tackles the subject of mental illness
Don't see it if You don't like two-handers. You expect a longer piece with a logical conclusion - I couldn't believe the show was over so quickly
Critic Reviews (3)
"The set design, by Owen Boss, is immersive...It’s novel to sit among the action, with one Lisa or another shuffling past your seat, though ultimately the effect doesn’t support its execution. Kiernan’s direction, however, imbues the production with an unsettling feeling...The success of the play’s Gemini effect is in large part because of the actresses’ talents...Walsh’s script, however, doesn’t leave as lasting an impression."
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"4/5 stars...Director Pat Kiernan keeps the action popping with brief interludes of music and video, but in the absence of the more spectacular elements of such recent Walsh works as 'Medicine,' 'Arlington' and 'Ballyturk,' 'The Same' keeps you engrossed mainly through the quality of its writing and its high-wire performances. It packs a lot of emotion and enigma into under 50 minutes—just the right length to keep us at once drawn in and too close for comfort."
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"It may cheer up some that 'The Same' is a markedly different proposition from the typical Walsh festival of high-pitched acting and assaultive effects. For this brief, tightly focused two-hander, the playwright goes all Harold Pinter on us, lowering his authorial voice and wrapping his tale in multiple layers of mystery. Even as a change of pace, however, it is probably best enjoyed by his fans; for others, it may function as a compendium of the Irish theatre's more questionable elements."
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