Epiphany NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (136)
See it if You love to laugh; get involved in the lives of a diverse group of interesting people and be so moved to reflect on their lives and your own
Don't see it if Observing and listening to 9 people’s lives seems too much or if you don’t want to empathise with the struggles and feelings of others. Read more
See it if you are familiar with, and like James Joyce's "The Dead." This is a 21st century homage to that work.
Don't see it if you are looking for a loud noisy musical type show, a play with a traditional story... this is not it. Read more
See it if You enjoy Chekhov’s plays and James Joyce’s “The Dead”. This is a beautifully written and skillfully acted play. It is truly a powerful play
Don't see it if You are looking for a lighthearted play. This play will make you think about your life choices.
See it if Story of grieve & supportive friendship. Brilliant performance by Mary Louise Burke with an outstanding team of actors. Bravo!
Don't see it if If you prefer a musical then skip this one.
See it if you like: comedies with a serious side...a great cast (featuring enchanting Mary Louise Burke...a darn good story, characters, set, staging.
Don't see it if you hate comedies that make you actually ponder and dissect when you stop laughing...you hate dark humor...Go! See for yourself.
See it if Had to see it for MaryLouise Burke. I try to see her in everything she does! This play was entertaining and interesting. Great cast.
Don't see it if You want a play with a clear plot and resolution. This a weird and mysterious play. Read more
See it if Wonderful ensemble cast, terrific writing, some of the funniest lines--and some great characters --poignant and sharp. Layered.
Don't see it if Definitely required you to listen--hard and pay attention--truly many laugh out loud moments-- long and not easy--but worth every minute.
See it if Interesting premise
Don't see it if You like musicals this is a drama
Critic Reviews (17)
"I could describe Brian Watkins’s “Epiphany,” ... as an existential dinner-party play. Or a satire of academics, armchair psychologists and the general intelligentsia, always trying to find a common language for our ways of living in the world. It could be called a critique of our modern society of self-interest. A statement on grief. Or a ghost story."
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"Brian Watkins’s intriguing, but ultimately blurry and low-impact, group portrait inspired by James Joyce’s 'The Dead' emerges more like an artistic exercise or theme and variation on that famous 1914 short story than a fully satisfying drama on its own."
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"Many plays have strong beginnings and flub the ending, but Watkins here seems to have worked backwards. He has a gorgeous image in mind, and he knows who his Stranger should be. It’s the dinner part he hasn’t quite worked out yet, nor the tidings that she brings."
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"Most of the play consists of conversation that touches occasionally on topics of some specificity ...but mostly floats on higher and drier philosophical planes, without quite settling for long on a single subject, unless it’s the general idea that the world is in some state of crisis or decline."
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"Once you accept that 'Epiphany' is a mix of Joycean DNA, Buñuelian atmospherics, and a heap of New Yorker-level cocktail chatter, you can relax and enjoy it. There will be no grand, head-smacking revelation, just a small but piercing insight: 'We’re not meant to be alone.' Something your sweet, dotty grandmother might forward you as an attachment you never bother to open. "
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"Throughout this curious play, laughter mingles with mystery and unanswered questions: Why has Aran been standing alone over there by the piano all this time? Why do the lights keep dimming unexpectedly? Has something catastrophic happened in the outside world when all the cellphones start buzzing inside that suitcase? We never learn the answers, and it seems we're not meant to. "
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In trying to take the measure of our jittery, late-pandemic world, Watkins relies on familiar theatrical genres; Epiphany is both a comedy of manners and a country house mystery. (As a character delightedly notes, Morkan owns a cocktail cart, a staple of polished drawing room plays.) But, in this case, the mysteries are ontological. Watkins is wondering what has happened to us over the last couple of years, the long-term effects of forced isolation and creeping anxiety. That he does so with such a light touch, ensuring plenty of laughter, is one of the most remarkable things about Epiphany.
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"It is an altogether thrilling work of theatrical artistry, splendidly directed by Tyne Rafaeli, supported with outstanding design elements, and superbly acted by its cast of nine, with much of the evening resting on an extraordinary performance by Marylouise Burke."
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