Incognito NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (185)
See it if You're a fan of intense dramas that really make you think. This is some pretty intense down the rabbit hole kind of stuff.
Don't see it if You're looking for light fluffy entertainment that gives you all the answers or ANY of them for that matter. Some of these questions hurt.
See it if You want insight about what gives humans their identity. You enjoy interlocking storylines. You like to think a lot about what you saw.
Don't see it if You prefer easier material. Tip: if you go to a Saturday matinee there is a talkback afterwards.
See it if you like fast paced multiple plots that jump in time and location with little apparent connection, require careful attention, witty dialogue
Don't see it if you don't like non-linear plots, actors playing multiple parts, scenes that jump without notice to another location and time, science talk
See it if /for fascinating interlocking stories focusing on brain/neuroscience show why fruitless to reduce human behavior to mere brain function
Don't see it if /since import of multiple tales confusing to many in audience; still, culmination of kaleidoscopic storytelling moves audience
See it if you want to see a tease about the workings of the brain that never quite actually has anything to say about the subject.
Don't see it if a show that looks great and boasts great performances but ultimately doesn't have anything to say would put you off.
See it if You like great ensemble acting.
Don't see it if I found the play to be intelligent yet confusing and obtuse, leaving me with little empathy for the characters.
See it if you want to work hard, the show is impossible to follow. You really have to focus and pay attention but not in an enjoyable way.
Don't see it if if you want to sit back and relax. you will get no enjoyment from this show. It's 4 actors playing way too many parts Read more
See it if you enjoy a four-person acting tour de force. Each cast member moves effortlessly between their various roles, inhabiting them perfectly.
Don't see it if you require a simple, linear story. This isn't that, though you get the whole picture of how the various lives connect by the conclusion.
Critic Reviews (31)
"A lively, self-examining drama of ideas…The script’s diverse figures are embodied by an exceptionally supple ensemble of four…Remarkable for the clarity with which it graphs its various forms of confusion and delusion...'Incognito' doesn’t achieve the raw emotional force of 'Constellations.' But as befits a work about the vagaries of memory, Mr. Payne’s multilayered works remains in your mind, challenging our most fundamental notions of autonomous selfhood."
Read more
"Doug Hughes directs a solid cast (Cox is especially brilliant as the sweetly tragic Maison) in what is an impressive acting workout—if not completely revelatory drama. For all the engaging tidbits of information, the notion that personality, love or even genius are not hard-wired into the brain so much as accidents of chemistry and sociology probably won’t blow anyone’s mind."
Read more
"It's an extremely challenging assignment that the ensemble cast executes with admirable skill and precision...'Incognito' exerts a certain fascination, but it's also deeply frustrating...Despite its brevity, the play feels bloated, padded with such extraneous scenes...Payne tends to concentrate on the cerebral, with the result that watching 'Incognito' feels like working on a particularly difficult crossword puzzle. It's satisfying up to a point, but we're rarely emotionally engaged."
Read more
"'Incognito' feels disjointed. Without the help of costumes, makeup, props, or different sets, it can be hard to follow how all of these lives intersect. But plot holes aside, the acting is superb. The actors have nothing to play off of but each other, and with what feels like a millisecond between scenes, they transform completely...Within a blink, Cox goes from a young American sidekick-type to a feeble, elderly man, and is wholly convincing as both. 'Incognito' is an actor’s dream."
Read more
"Director Doug Hughes and movement director Peter Pucci run themselves ragged moving 20 lifeless characters (played by four hard-working actors). But for all that work, Payne’s treatment of his philosophical subject remains leaden in theatrical form...Whatever emotion might be squeezed out of this dry piece can be found in the bittersweet scenes in which Henry, who is in no way in touch with reality, manages to retain the memory of his love for his wife."
Read more
"Nick Payne’s brainy but murky mind game of a play is probably more fun to be in than watch...The actors give colorful performances as they switch instantly from one character to another. But like the round bare stage, the play goes in circles. As a husband with recall gone haywire, a sweet Charlie Cox makes the show hit the heart and not just the head."
Read more
"'Incognito' confirms that Payne is in a class of his own as a contemporary writer…’Incognito’ never once feels like a stolid post-grad lecture on neuroscience. Through and through, it is a compelling, humane story, featuring absorbing characters with whom we feel a kinship...While there are points where Hughes' staging tends to lag, his work impresses here for its decision to let the audience conjure the world of the play ourselves."
Read more
"Nick Payne's ambitious, but somewhat muddy new play, admirably performed by a hard-working quartet of actors…Directed by Doug Hughes, the actors divide 20 roles in short interwoven scenes that snap directly into each other, frequently making transitions from story to story unclear…While 'Incognito' may very well provide some fascinating observations about the workings of the brain, some clearer storytelling is required to get them across."
Read more