Love + Science NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (89)
See it if you are interested in seeing an interesting perspective on what it was like being gay during the 1980s
Don't see it if you're looking for more sophistication from a show because this show was extremely minimalistic in its props and cast
See it if You’re not opposed to another AIDS play, LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 stories, harsh language/ realities, science 🧪. I feel it was well-executed and a good
Don't see it if Use of space, albeit a lot of moving around by the cast. If you’re triggered by any of the above 👆🏼 or male romance, this isn’t for you!
See it if you love historical plays that’s very much still a problem in our society almost 50 years later.
Don't see it if you are not interested in wordy plays with a scientific point of view mixed in with the ethics and the stigma of living with a deadly plague
See it if You want a little taste (or reminder) of what it was like in the early days of AIDS. Especially if you were involved in the scientific end.
Don't see it if Documentary style shows are not for you. This definitely has an interesting plot, more than a few actually but it’s also a lot of facts. Read more
See it if you want to see a serious drama about the AIDS crisis with a little romance included for good measure
Don't see it if you want to see just a love story or are not interested in queer themes Read more
See it if you are interested in the historical account of disease, and science. Great cast.
Don't see it if you don't want to hear about virology and relationships
See it if you want to be educated about the history of HIV research and what it was like living through the AIDS epidemic of the 80s
Don't see it if you're only about humor and spectacle
See it if you want to see a great play about the way medical science has changed due to the AIDS crisis. Also about how people had to change.
Don't see it if if you don't want to see a play about the struggle of gay people because of the AIDS crisis.
Critic Reviews (7)
“Walker and Burke are able and appealing performers, but surface-level charm is all the information-saturated dialogue will allow. Not that the final scene offers narrative resolutions; the relationships between the characters hardly ask for any, and the future of scientific study is still unwritten.”
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"The play ends on an unresolved note, which may be truthful in a society that hasn’t come to a healthy accord with disease and death. Unfortunately, that authenticity makes for an unsatisfying, unfinished-feeling drama."
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“The title of David J. Glass' new play is strictly truthful; Love + Science hitches together personal drama with a potted history of the AIDS epidemic, focusing on the search for viable treatments. It's an odd, ungainly hybrid of straightforward romance and virus-hunting drama. And it isn't terribly original: Glass aims to blaze a trail already explored by Tony Kushner, Larry Kramer, and William Hoffman without having anything fresh to add.”
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“What ‘Love + Science’ could use is more love and less science.”
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As for the play itself, "Love + Science" tells a good story, even if not necessarily a new one. It’s largely another history of AIDS with a few scientific sprinkles thrown in. Where Glass’ script succeeds is in its characters and their determination. There are two especially poignant moments, conveyed by Melissa and Jane (both played by Williams), where they each confront Matt about how damaging his indecisiveness over owning his homosexuality is. And the scene where Jeff reproaches Matt for telling James that AIDS is 100% fatal is riveting.
Lastly, it’s in the final scene where Glass’ play provides its most powerful message, when a now middle-aged Matt in 2021 compares the body count of AIDS to that of COVID-19, contrasting the swiftness with which the governments of the world produced a vaccine for COVID-19 where they have yet to create a vaccine for HIV, 40 years into the AIDS pandemic.
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"I appreciated the modesty with which the play was produced, showcasing how much can be done with very little. Good things often come in small packages and 'Love + Science' is a very good thing."
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The linchpin of the play is [Matt] Walker’s flawed Matt. Though both he and Jeff are determined to excel, Matt is willing to surrender more of his personal life to pursue his work. … In a masterly performance, Walker persuasively shows a man who embraces a celibacy that is both stunting and heroic, given the purported risks of merely kissing or breathing the same air as someone who’s infected.
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