Native Son (The Acting Company) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
The Acting Company presents this adaptation of Richard Wright's classic novel about the struggles of a black man in 1930s Chicago. Performed in rotating repertory with "Measure for Measure."
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See it if You enjoy plays about race relations and the impact that has on one’s sense of self-worth, enjoy creative use of quick execution of dialog
Don't see it if Racial issues trigger you, you are not interested in the impact of racial perceptions and how they shape a social norms, need slow dialog
See it if Powerful and time proven book that New Yorkers get to see.
Don't see it if Disappointing set.
See it if you want to see a classic novel by Richard Wright done in a fresh new 90 minute version. The acting and staging are superb.
Don't see it if you need to see your plays mimic their source material and take no liberties. The play is not done in chronological order and may confuse.
See it if you want a play that makes you think performed by brilliant actors. A fine adaptation of Richard Wright's book!
Don't see it if You prefer happy go lucky musicals.
See it if you liked the book, are concerned about race in America, want to see compelling drama.
Don't see it if you think any of the above is not critical in this country at this moment. Read more
See it if you’d like to see a powerful play and great performance by the actors.
Don't see it if you don’t enjoy stories of discrimination.
See it if Welldone play on the effect of racism in 1930s.Bigger,as a black kid,faces poverty,anger&fear,reacting wth violence&hatr in adaltho.Gt prod
Don't see it if you don't wish to question,"Who is to blame anyway, society or the individual molded by it ???" Reading Richard Wright's novel would help.
See it if Deep, dark bi-level psycho-drama. Desperate murderer/fugitive in racist Chicago is possessed by devil-ghost of his father. Artistic terror.
Don't see it if You won't like an artsy interpretation of a novel where a lot of action occurs in the protagonist's mind. 2nd half drags compared to 1st. Read more
Critic Reviews (8)
"A Big Story Made Smaller: This fluid and nonlinear adaptation of Richard Wright’s novel is brisk, but its theatrics upstage its implications."
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"Fighting the Power in 'Native Son' and 'Measure for Measure.' The Acting Company pairs Richard Wright and William Shakespeare to wake us up to injustice."
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"Told in a fragmentary form often with flashbacks within flashbacks, it is only possible to put the chronology together if one knows the novel. Kelley has also eliminated the powerful speech to the jury by Bigger's lawyer which is one the most famous of all statements on social racism."
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"Richard Wright and William Shakespeare are justly praised for their depth and breadth of thought; I wish that in the zeal to focus them on single concepts, these productions didn't reduce their works as much as they do."
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"You don't need the signposts to find harrowing contemporary relevance in the story of a black New Yorker, Bigger Thomas…Bigger is given seething, sorrowful life by Galen Ryan Kane…by mixing and matching the novel's timelines and interspersing scenes, Kelley draws out some provoking parallels."
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"Astounding production of Native Son, in which playwright Nambi E. Kelley's adaptation of the characters, plot and devastating themes of the novel dispel any thought of Wright's complex excoriation of racism in America."
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"This bleak portrait of institutional and societal racism and its effects on an African-American 20-year-old man remains all-too-shockingly relevant today; indeed, you wouldn't be surprised to hear the story of Bigger Thomas on any nightly newscast."
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“The action moves at a breathless pace as the play hurtles to its foregone conclusion. The production also benefits from exceptional performances. Native Son first appeared more than two decades before the advent of Civil Rights legislation. [T]he current adaptation demonstrates that the work is as relevant today as it was nearly 80 years ago.”
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