Fairview NYC Reviews and Tickets

79%

(185 Reviews)

Positive

77%

Mixed

14%

Negative

Members say

Thought-provoking, Ambitious, Relevant, Intense, Absorbing

About the Show

After sold-out runs at Soho Rep. and in Berkeley, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Pulitzer prize-winning play about race and identity comes to TFANA. $20 New Deal tickets are available full-time students and anyone under 30.

In "Fairview," the Frasier family is gearing up for Grandma’s birthday, and Beverly needs this dinner to be perfect. Plus, the radio’s on the fritz, her sister Jasmine is drinking, her husband Dayton isn’t helping, her brother Tyrone might not show up at all, and her daughter Keisha is being a typical teenager. As Beverly’s hostess-neurosis begins to get the better of her while her family acts like family, Keisha’s adolescent malaise starts to seem like maybe it could be something else.

Member Reviews (185)

Powerful, Thought-provoking, Great staging, Great acting, Great writing

See it if A powerful, brilliant, dizzying manifesto on race. Shocking, uncomfortable, brilliant. Unique theatrical experience.

Don't see it if you can't handle confusion nor racial discomfort. Read more

Thought-provoking, Resonant, Relevant, Great writing, Great acting

See it if An excellent piece of theatre that tells a story non-traditionally. Keeps the audience engaged and thinking days after the performance.

Don't see it if There are confusing parts but that's the beauty of the show - it forces you to actively engage your mind and see the story below the surface

Difficult, Uncomfortable, Absorbing, Relevant, Ambitious

See it if you want to be challenged--face to face (literally)--on societal racism. Solid acting/inventive directn bring multi-layered script to life.

Don't see it if you want a coherent work. Act 1 &2 are engaging (but too long). Act 3 is incomprehensible chaos. Too many ideas, chars, noises, gimmicks. Read more

Indulgent, Fluffy, Disappointing, Banal, Ambitious

See it if A play that needs a lot of cutting and reworking. An interesting story on race told in a different way. Acting is good in this production.

Don't see it if If you dont care about a solid plot line or a real quality story. Show starts out well but gets lost at end of second act. 3erd act terrible

Clever, Edgy, Funny, Relevant, Weird

See it if Black actors play “white” roles & struggle with Euro culture. Zany fun w/ many creative surprises. Loved the satirical dancing & food fight.

Don't see it if You aren’t interested in race & cultural assimilation. You don’t like weird plays. The last scene fell flat for me. Confrontational.

Great writing, Insightful, Must see, Ambitious, Absorbing

See it if u want to see one of the most original, astute, penetrating, shrewd, enlightening and, yes, discomforting plays on race u may ever witness.

Don't see it if you refuse to get out of your comfort zone and face the realities of racism, cultural appropriation & inherent flaws in the human condition. Read more

Relevant, Refreshing, Great acting, Clever, Ambitious

See it if you like the unexpected, interest in black playwright's take on racism & surveillance & victimhood, like to see 4th wall demolished,

Don't see it if expect a through story line, uncomfortable with issues of racism & audience involvement, could develop conflicted feelings

Intense, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Confusing, Ambitious

See it if Drury's meta-dramatic theatrical piece on race & white privilege (both on & off stage) is dense, chilling, edgy & very funny (until its not)

Don't see it if Divided into three "acts", takes time & some confusion moving through them Seems to lose focus as events spin out of control but KO ending

Critic Reviews (18)

"A singular, shape-shifting drama that transports audiences to places it never expects to go...Although the designers have magnified somewhat the sights and sounds of the production to accommodate a larger theater, it does not appear that the playwright has significantly altered the text. Nor have the actors modified their sterling performances...'Fairview' remains a striking, even startling, consideration of white perceptions regarding racial identity."
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"Twists and turns contain so many surprises, so many unexpected and occasionally jaw-dropping moments, that to describe them would be to ruin half the fun...'Fairview' is extraordinary. It is funny, it is insightful, and it is shocking. It makes you uncomfortable, in all the best ways. It leaves you thinking about it for days afterward, and then it leaves you rethinking what you’ve thought...As Trumpism has come into full flower, 'Fairview' is an eloquent, defiant response."
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"Smart, unexpected, richly layered, difficult, and even confrontational...‘Fairview’ moves from an unremarkable, sitcom-worthy premise to an urgent, incisive examination of how we think about race...Drury offers a window into the frustrations of living and creating as a Black person within our not-so-post-racial world. Thanks to her acute observations, this sharp cast, and Benson's pulsing production, 'Fairview'...is challenging, but always worth the attention."
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"Utterly fascinating and forceful play. Like a good food fight, it wildly throws out implied conventions and disturbing vantage points...It transitions dramatically into a heady examination of race, strongly held expectations, and white privilege. Layered on top is an upsettingly accurate internal dialogue...Directed with resolution and unabashed confidence...the piece pounds us forward dramatically, challenging us to overcome.”
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"The stunning production of 'Fairview,' Drury’s challenging play, is now being remounted with the same extraordinary cast and creative team...The new run offers theatergoers a second chance to see...But, for better or for worse, this second run also comes with a new context...Drury is making a larger point, delivered meta-theatrically, that black people always feel on stage, always being observed, judged, summed up. This message helps make 'Fairview' tricky to review."
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“The play is shattering in a literal sense...A knockout play about race...I’ve never felt more alone while surrounded by people on every side...The play’s scorching final act reversed my isolation to such an extreme that I felt more exposed than if I had succumbed to a primal scream. I later understood why...This isn’t just about a handful of made-up characters on stage, entertaining an audience one minute and forgotten the next."
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For a previous production

“Let me give you fair warning on 'Fairview,' Jackie Sibblies Drury’s dazzling and ruthless new play: If you see it — and you must — you will not be comfortable...You will also wind up questioning your basic right to sit there, especially if, you are a white person...Directed with disarming smoothness...Structured as a series of perspective-altering surprises, and they keep coming at you...A glorious, scary reminder of the unmatched power of live theater to rattle, roil and shake us wide awake.”
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For a previous production

"There are slight longueurs in Sarah Benson’s Soho Rep production—the provoking of mild impatience may be intentional—but its bolder strokes are unforgettable. ‘Fairview’ argues for the possibility of people of color representing themselves, onstage and off, without an overlay of white perception, judgment and narrative. It gently body-checks privilege.”
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