"Mr. Brant’s play draws a nuanced and haunting portrait of a woman serving in the United States Armed Forces...Some baggy or repetitive passages notwithstanding, Mr. Brant’s writing largely remains taut, terse and concentrated on exposing the fissures that open in the heroine’s confidence and sense of honor...'Grounded' has a grimly fresh topicality."
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"Taymor’s busy, illustrative direction—which surrounds the actress with showy projections and sound effects—adds to the trouble; her staging of the play’s new ending hovers at the edge of kitsch. It’s good to see Hathaway spreading her wings, but the end result doesn’t take flight."
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"What Mr. Brant has done is to find the poetry in the rhythms of everyday speech. The strength of Ms. Hathaway’s performance lies in the gauged intensity with which she responds to the poetic aspect of 'Grounded.' But 'Grounded' is smothered in a thick sauce of overelaborate visual and sound effects."
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"Its divisive subject is as current as the front page of today’s New York Times...It’s unassailably dramatic, kinetic and provocative...Writer, director and character merge in a single, indelible unity of vision I won’t soon forget."
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"A real gem...The play trains audiences’ eyes on a slice of life unfamiliar to most people. That makes the show worthwhile; the crisp, smart script makes it even better."
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"The Public Theater’s intimate Anspacher space proves the ideal staging area for Taymor’s arsenal of pyrotechnics...The tricky part for both actor and director is the Pilot’s gradual enlightenment about what it actually means to fly a drone."
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"Why doesn't this impressive production pack more of an emotional wallop? The technical wizardry and star power expose the limitations of the play...Brant's ending seems melodramatic. And perhaps all the directorial pyrotechnics, while making this production unusually dynamic for a solo show, contribute to a certain detachment from the experience being portrayed."
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"The play doesn’t provide any easy answers. What it does do is present a highly compelling portrait of a bright woman who comes to the realization that she has become an executioner. 'Grounded' is an expertly crafted work that adds a unique dimension to a very controversial and timely issue."
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