See it if you care about gender topics, violence, exploitation... You like Eva Enslers work
Don't see it if you don't like to be provoked or are overly sensitive - there is a lot of pain to digest here
See it if OMG. The 3 act plays and their actors blew me away. Such powerful work. This is a must see for serious theater fans
Don't see it if Dont go if you don't want to see painfully hard truths of women's lives. This is not a light hearted romp although there is great humor.
See it if For true theare.... if you want to see an important play ...that speaks to our time. Political & Brilliant Political... Brilliant
Don't see it if You are not interested in seripus theater or if you do not enjoy socio political topics.
See it if you admire novel, courageous, confident exploration of a #MeToo theme (women caged/exploited), clever use fruit metaphor, without self-pity
Don't see it if you dislike drama about violence against/abuse of women, explicit sexual references/nudity, sitting in cold theatre 90 min. without interval
See it if you like the work of Eve Ensler. You know you are going to take a journey with women and their issues.
Don't see it if The 2nd short play was uncomfortable but the actress was formidable and did a great job. The nudity is the 3rd play came as a joyful relief!
See it if You want to hear women talk from their own P.O.V. (includes extreme cases such as women for sale and a woman who likes her own body)
Don't see it if The point of the show is to take you out of your comfort zone, see other points of view, experience nudity as non-arousing, and even dance
See it if You’re an Eve Ensler fan.
Don't see it if If you want to be entertained, this is serious stuff.
See it if You are interested in a radical, ambitious depiction of private thoughts made public
Don't see it if You shun nudity and long monologues
"A curious flatness pervades most of 'Fruit Trilogy'...Mr. Rosenblatt too often goes for bluntness where nuance is needed, which gets in the way of human connection. So does the almost unrelenting tonal darkness of the first two plays, making them seem less like a protest against women’s victimization than a fetishization of it...'Coconut' makes an uplifting finish to a grim program. And laughter, that vital survival mechanism, whooshes in like oxygen."
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"The play contains the kind of frank language about deeply personal situations that is likely to disturb some audience members. However, Ensler's eyebrow-raising scenes are not gratuitous. 'Fruit Trilogy' is an honest, unflinching look at the way women's bodies are commodified, violated, and — with great difficulty, courage, and strength — eventually accepted by their owners...It's a significant piece that shouldn't be ignored, especially now."
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“Ensler is best known for her straightforward style...So it's a bit of a jolt that the first third of her trilogy takes on an absurdist angle...The second scene, Clemons admirably throws herself into the difficult material, but Rosenblatt could have had her modulate her intensity more...The final piece gives viewers some much needed feel-good positivity to cap off the night...The ending can be awkward, but my more extroverted guest was having a ball.”
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"If she was a tour guide, Ensler would be the kind who asks you to venture into pits of darkness, without ever promising light on the other side...Her words, and the places she takes her characters to, rely on what can only be described as an esoteric law of physics, something along the lines of: we have endured this much, so the universe ought to balance it out somehow. That she does this without relying on condescension or cliché is miraculous and life affirming."
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"'Pomegranate'—mercifully, the shortest of the three shorts—is just something you’ll have to endure to get to the harrowing 'Avocado'...Each piece seems to exist in its own world. There’s no easy way to move from the avant-garde 'Pomegranate' to the confessional 'Coconut.' And after the weighty 'Avocado,' 'Coconut' seems almost trite...But I admire Ensler’s message of positivity and celebration of visibility."
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"Staged by director Mark Rosenblatt with considerable style...One note of caution: The scalding anger that boils over here regarding male brutality towards women may disturb some viewers, while anyone who cannot abide Beckett or abstract theater modes will not have a good time. Otherwise it is intriguing to see Ensler consider her usual topics such as body image, male violence, sexual freedom, social exploitation, and similar concerns through an atypical dramatic lens."
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"Eve Ensler's 'Fruit Trilogy' depicts worthy issues that need to be publicly discussed. However, as the individual plays are only about one issue each, they tend to go on too long, way past the time when the audience has gotten the messages. This may, in fact, be Ensler's chosen technique, inundating the viewer with too much information that becomes difficult to forget, a limit to what we can take in. However, the problem is that there is a dropping off of attention, a diminishing of returns."
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"The trilogy combines moments of levity with moments of fear and conviction...In 'Pomegranate,' the performers present as Items, ready for sale...Without extraneous movement, they deliver the text, thoughtfully and unflinchingly...The box bursts open in .Avocado'...In a courageous performance by Clemons, who previously performed in 'Transparent,' moments land with a definitive sense of breath...In 'Coconut,' it’s refreshing to find a differently inclusive narrative."
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