History of Violence NYC Reviews and Tickets

82%

(30 Reviews)

Positive

90%

Mixed

10%

Negative

Members say

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

About the Show

Director Thomas Ostermeier and Schaubühne Berlin return to St. Ann’s Warehouse with Édouard Louis’ searing autobiographical novel.

From the show:

Through the fractured recall of Édouard, his sister, police, and doctors, the “brave and ambitious” (The Guardian) History of Violence reconstructs the trauma of a desire-filled encounter turned violent. A layered retelling that is both devastating and funny, the production uncovers deeply rooted societal racism, homophobia, and rage unbridled, until all that remains is a nuanced, closely guarded memory.

Member Reviews (30)

Innovative staging, Intense, Ambitious, Absorbing

See it if ur open to an honest & personal lesson about trust, lust, insecurity, suspicion, prejudice & forgiveness centered around a harrowing crime.

Don't see it if you'll be triggered by frank depictions of sexual violence; you're uncomfortable with male nudity; you don't want to read supertitles. Read more

Thought-provoking, Riveting, Great staging, Ambitious, Absorbing

See it if you're a fan of Edouard Louis, like plays about gay men, interested in recovery after a horrible trauma & in modern German theater,

Don't see it if Upset by sexual trauma, male nudity, gay issues, not a fan of supertitles or use of video in plays, only like plays in English

Forensic, Clinical, Intermittently powerful, Handsome

See it if you’re interested in multi-media staging possibilities at the end of the 2nd decade of the 21st century.

Don't see it if you’re looking for a play: Though this piece often dips into drama, it’s proudly post-dramatic. Read more

Experimental, Intense, Edgy, Great acting, Ambitious

See it if Male perspective as victim of assault and three actors in multiple roles absorbing its aftermath.In German with supertitles,video-cam,beats.

Don't see it if Missed is a deeper dive:Assault is power and aggression.With the added burden of racial tension and assumption.More topic needed in its 2hrs

Harrowing, Thought-provoking, Riveting, Intense, Intimate

See it if Experimental theater highlighting social conflicts in racism/ homosexuality/education/class; superb acting, staging & use of video

Don't see it if Nudity, rape, violence and/or homosexuality are sensitive subjects for you; use of herbal cigarettes can be overpowering at times. Read more

Raunchy, Intense, Excruciating, Edgy, Ambitious

See it if you enjoy an interpreted piece with subtitles depicting white privelege gayness vs third world gayness

Don't see it if subtitles displayed on the screen with multiple people talking confuses you ( it did me) and if gay themes are of no interest to you

Thought-provoking, Quirky, Great acting, Intelligent, Intense

See it if you like experimental, edgy theater that uses new techniques to powerfully tell a story.

Don't see it if you object to watching staged acts of violence. This is an intense show

Intense

See it if Layered intersections of sex, class, family relationships, and loneliness harshly yet beautifully rendered with multimedia experience.

Don't see it if Explicit guns, rape, attempted murder are triggering. French setting in German with English supertitles is a little confusing. Read more

Critic Reviews (7)

"Fleeing Home, but Not Homophobia: Two plays based on the autobiographical novels of Édouard Louis put the problem of violence against gay men in a larger social context."
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4/5 Stars: "Adapted from Édouard Louis's autobiographical novel, History of Violence tells a painful personal narrative, revisiting the scene of a crime and parsing the trauma it caused. As directed by the visionary German theater-maker Thomas Ostermeier, it is a brutal and bracingly intimate act of reclamation"
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"What Makes the Man: Édouard Louis’s 'History of Violence' and 'The End of Eddy'"
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"'History of Violence' is a horror story, but a contemplative one; it features one of the most disturbing acts I have ever seen onstage, out of which it teases a multiplicity of meanings. It is a difficult, demanding, and extraordinary piece of theatre."
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"Louis' work takes a tricky turn, one I suspect a safe-space-seeking American audience might struggle with. He asks us to move past the rape, fully experience the shame…and then, more or less, to forget about it. It's an unsatisfying conclusion."
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"An examination of trauma; that in any case is the most consistently insightful aspect of the adaptation…. committed performances by the four-member cast…but the production ultimately felt more like an exercise in stagecraft rather than a pointed exploration of history or violence."
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For a previous production

"'Dr. Ride's American Beach House' and the Secret Lives of Lesbians in the 1980s: Sally Ride's historic space journey inspires four women on a St. Louis rooftop."
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