Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson returns to The Public Theater with 'Hungry,' the first in a new three-play cycle introducing us to the Gabriels of Rhinebeck, New York.
Read more Show lessSee it if you like big gifts in very small packages. The power of the piece could fail to impress people who don't appreciate subtlety.
Don't see it if you don't like talky plays.
See it if You like thought-proving theater.
Don't see it if You need lots of action onstage to keep you interested.
See it if you are a lover of slice of life plays. I can't explain fully why these plays about regular people move me so but they do.
Don't see it if you're not ready for a play that is easy.
See it if You need to be reminded that smart, intimate theater based on great writing and acting will keep you company in the dark and make you laugh
Don't see it if You are seeking dazzle or distraction. You'll need to accept the family dynamics and go with the flow to enjoy - as in life.
See it if You recognize and appreciate first rate truthful ensemble acting,
Don't see it if You don't like quiet, slice-of-life plays with no dramatic events.
See it if you like family dramas about regular people with regular problems. Absolutely see it if you liked the author's Apple family plays.
Don't see it if you like a lot of action.
See it if you want to feel like a fly on the wall.
Don't see it if you have trouble with shows where "nothing happens."
See it if You like great characters, rich deep content so full and real that their lives could be yours. I felt like I was eavesdropping!
Don't see it if You're looking for fast paced and lots of action. This is gentle beautiful scents of these people's lives.
"There's a sense through the piece that Nelson is just offering a feel of the characters and setting them up for more interesting matters in the coming chapters...But trust seems to be a major issue this political season and judging from his past record, we can probably trust that Nelson and his crew have made this first visit with the Gabriels just the appetizer for a satisfying meal to come."
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"One of the great things about Richard Nelson's plays is that they force you to listen -- hard...This is one case where the author is the perfect director of his own work, working with his cast to forge a style of acting so naturalistic that it barely seems like acting at all...Whatever comes next, 'Hungry' is an expertly etched panel in the author's increasingly impressive mural of classic liberal culture in decline."
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"Nelson has captured this alienating zeitgeist with such accuracy in this play that it almost seems indecorous to discuss the idea of whether it is a fulfilling drama on its own terms. Spoiler: It isn't...The stumbling block (for now, anyway) is that almost all of the characters are pretty drab. This is not the fault of the performers who craft magnetic, almost impossibly real personalities...If not all the pieces come together, they do offer the hint of a picture we desperately need to see."
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“‘Hungry’ is both an occasional play (written for this moment in time) and a
chamber play. Not much happens but a great deal is implied. It will not
please all theatergoers. However, it will be interesting to see how Nelson
develops the next two plays in the series, ‘What Did You Expect?’ and ‘Women of
a Certain Age’, with the same actors. Demonstrating their expertise, the
cast is real enough to make you think they are not performing.”
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"'Hungry' indicates that Nelson has refined and perfected his inter-linking of major national events with the major and trivial events of an intelligent, liberal-minded group of American characters...Nelson deftly steers his cast through all the physical and verbal business...Real smells of the dinner being prepared actually waft through the theater and will leave you hungry for a repast of your own—and hungry for more time with the Gabriels."
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"Like the ratatouille prepared on stage, ‘Hungry’ is an appetizing but meatless dish. It’s satisfying principally because of how expertly its realistic dialogue and behavior is directed by Nelson himself and acted by the superb ensemble...One assumes—or, at any rate, hopes—that the play’s tentative political content is the appetizer for the more nutritious courses to be served up later in the year. More meat, please!"
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"Nothing is sorted out or resolved...To be sure, the event of scattering a beloved’s ashes is nothing to be sneezed at. However, this event, in and of itself does not set off any fireworks or even mild frost heaves...The Gabriel family, unlike the pot of water on the back of the stove, is set at simmer and never achieves a level any deeper than mildly interesting."
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"'Hungry' is realistically acted, with a subtle craft that invests the characters’ seemingly random comments and everyday activities with thematic weight...It helps to assume that 'Hungry' sets up characters and relationships that will pay off in more compelling plays to come."
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