Evening at the Talk House NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (162)
See it if like Wallace Shawn's writing; want a semi-comedic, dark look at the near future with a very good cast; staged so you feel like part of show
Don't see it if don't like Matthew Broderick (I don't, but he's ok here), want a real plot; the script is verbose; there's alot of talking
See it if you like Wallace Shawn as a playwright. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the lead.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy dark, dystopian plays.
See it if You want to see amazing acting up close; you like experimental shows; you put a very high value on free gummy-worms
Don't see it if You want something linear and distracting; you hate being confused; you value the fourth wall
See it if You can sink your teeth into the dialogue, an extremely thought-provoking play.
Don't see it if A little slow, though the twists and turns still have me thinking.
See it if You like to hear people talk. I honestly thought Matthew Broderick was a pod person after Sylvia, but he returned to planet earth in this.
Don't see it if You're looking for a big revelation. It's a lot of talk, and can be entertaining, but doesn't add up to much.
See it if if you like seeing a talented ensemble in a drama
Don't see it if if you want to see a comedy or musical
See it if you like fine acting and direction, and provocative unpredictable theater that leaves you with more questions than answers.
Don't see it if you don't like Matthew Broderick and a distinguished cast that you may find disappointing in this unusual edgy piece.
See it if you might like a politically prescient show where group of theatre folk gather for a reunion in an Orwellian society..
Don't see it if you don't care for slice-of-life dramas where most of the "action" is talk and most of the "reveals" are events from the characters' pasts
Critic Reviews (46)
"It is a bit shocking how relevant 'Evening at the Talk House' is to the political times we now live in, but this is not a gathering that I would have wanted to be invited to...There are too many moments that don’t flow or that feel repetitive...And although the ending in general was not a shock, it also didn’t make much sense either. Although this 'Evening at the Talk House' kept me tuned in, I can’t say I was thoroughly engaged. This is one cocktail party that I wish I had skipped."
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“Under Scott Elliott’s smart and conscientious direction, the cast uniformly explores the depth of each character, delineates the character’s conflicts, and successfully helps to move the plot forward…Engaging theatre, although ‘Evening at the Talk House’ is not without complications...The reference to today’s political climate is obvious and deeply disturbing. This consonance with the present makes 'Talk House' an important conversation as freedoms seems to disappear daily."
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"In Shawn’s typical writing style, he later drifts into absurdist territory as his characters pose philosophical questions on who should live and who should die...Still, it’s not clear what he is trying to convey: Is 'Evening at the Talk House' about the death of theater or debating the deaths of individuals? In order to make an impact, it should be one or the other. As it stands, this is one evening that is still trying to talk its way toward an intellectual bullseye."
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"It’s one the main pleasures of the work, which can be alternately maddening, terrifying and a bit boring, that we’re never quite sure where we’re traveling – or where we’ll end up...Too much of the play is devoted to inside-baseball chatter about fictional theatrical and television figures. But every now and then, the subject abruptly changes to the geopolitical, and one sits up, pricks up one’s ears, and wonders how much of the dialogue Shawn wrote since January 20."
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"Much as Shawn's subject has a fundamental fascination...his play never seems believable enough to accept its premises...Director Scott Elliott...and his noteworthy cast do all they can to make Shawn's attempts at spontaneous language sound other than synthetic. However, the 100-minute play, a sizable, rambling chunk of it played only in candlelight, is eventually murdered by its own artificiality. 'Talk House' may have lots to talk about but it's hard to believe much of what it says."
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"'Talk House' is deliberately vague about the way the society it depicts differs from the one we currently inhabit. Yes, leaving the murdering sketchy adds to the terror–both for the characters and for us. But there are occasionally tantalizing morsels that suggest the 100-minute play might have felt more filling had Shawn cooked up some more aspects of his imagined world...Director Elliott is effective in creating an atmosphere of conventional conviviality...and then of growing dread."
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"'Evening at the Talk House' may not rivet the audience with chatter about trivial sitcoms in which his characters have appeared or been involved. But it has the impressive effect of confirming Shawn as remarkably prescient. He’s sussed out the 'normalizing' of destructive behavior settling over us as we speak...As directed with silken menace by Scott Elliott, the actors acquit themselves with aplomb, perhaps Broderick chief among them."
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"The play digests so easily and un-queasily that it can feel like it was barely there at all...'Evening at the Talk House' ought to be a body slam. Instead, it barely beats you up at all...Despite some lovely performances (Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker, especially, and a perfectly cast Broderick) the stakes seem perilously low, which is odd considering that the collapse of civilized society or at the very least an assassination or two threatens."
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