Epiphany NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsMember Reviews (130)
See it if you'd like to see a stellar performance by Marylouise Burke with a great supporting cast during a dinner party gone awry.
Don't see it if you are patient as it is a lot of talking that takes a while to help you understand the plot. Theater listening device always has feedback.
See it if you're a fan of the great Marylouise Burke. like plots that throw a group of strangers together for a heartbreaking believable purpose
Don't see it if don't like being strung along before getting a full understanding, unreliable but funny main character, promised characters who never show
See it if about people gathering to connect and find meaning at this ritual dinner party. It is interesting set of people that you want to know more.
Don't see it if This story is not straight to the point/ its is confusing as it goes on.
See it if You’d love to see Marylouise Burke in a starring role, no matter the play.
Don't see it if You can’t stand plotless, heady dinner-party dramedies where characters spew nonsense for two hours.
See it if you want to see an honest and scary look at how human beings act and behave in this day and age
Don't see it if If you’re looking for a lot of fireworks and you are the type of person that enjoys mindless musicals, you are not going to like this. Read more
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 dramedy of conversations around a dinner table, characters with various idiosyncrasies, various topics none of which last long except for*
Don't see it if you need a plot. I'm not sure I even saw a consistent thread but still entertaining. Read more
See it if Like a true dinner coming out of the pandemic: forgotten how to socialize, unexpected emotions, hunger for company, awkward discussions.
Don't see it if No linear/clear plot, nobody knows what's going on, death/loss of loved one, loneliness. 2 hours; no intermission. Read more
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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"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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"Watkins, the creator of the Amazon Prime Video series 'Outer Range,' strains for both profundity and mysticism, but merely delivers the sort of pale intellectual musings that would prove much more interesting in a state of inebriation."
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