"In this excellent one-act, in a world première in the small downstairs space at the Irish Rep, the playwright Ciara Ní Chuirc has taken Lovett’s story as an imaginative jumping-off point for a moving examination of love, faith, guilt, remembrance, and regret. With sensitive direction by Olivia Songer and strong performances by a cast of five, Ní Chuirc’s dialogue finds the perfect tone in a series of scenes that shift both in style and in time."
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"Chuirc is talented but she isn't assured enough to fuse this collection of characters and devices into a coherent whole. Olivia Songer's direction suffers from the same uncertainty, especially when grappling with the overwrought climax. Still, there are some fine performances...It's not easy to write a play about such a polarizing topic, and Chuirc makes a decent attempt at seeing many sides of the argument. But her reach exceeds her grasp, and she shortchanges her characters."
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"Director Olivia Songer stealthily, almost imperceptibly draws us into the mystery of Ann's death and why Eva is so obsessed with it...Hernandez is remarkably well-cast as Eva, exuding the nervous energy of that girl in high school with perfect attendance, who never got lower than an A- on anything...Chuirc deftly uncovers the classist assumptions that cloud the debate around abortion, in which well-to-do people on all sides think they know what is in the best interest of poor women."
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"Though it's a bit rough around the edges, Ciara Ní Chuirc's 'Made by God' is a compelling drama whose subject matter couldn't be timelier...also boasts a handful of thoughtful performances which make this 90-minute, intermission-less staging a provocative evening of societal and political theatre...Economically and cleanly directed by Olivia Songer, this Irish Rep production makes a strong case for 'Made by God' as a jumping off point for further refinement and polishing."
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Actually, the far more spirited debate is being held in Eva's own head as her religious upbringing wrestles with a sense of culpability for a recent tragedy that has cast doubt on her previously rock-solid convictions. Unfortunately, the much too-on-the-nose parallels between Ann's fate and what is tormenting Eva's conscience amount to a bundle of contrivances that touch off a cascade of underwhelming revelations not nearly as thought-provoking as the play's beginning scenes involving Ann and Mikey.
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