Night is a Room NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (27)
See it if you think role of theater is to provoke - even shock - audience and enjoy seeing two leading actresses acting up a storm.
Don't see it if you don't like seeing play where audience laughs in inappropriate places as nervous response to audacious premise.
See it if you don't mind disturbing familial themes.
Don't see it if you mind disturbing familial themes.
See it if Do not see this play.
Don't see it if You don't like very graphic plays about mother son incest.
See it if You like edgy, fresh shows and aren't afraid of highly sexualized discussions. Superb acting
Don't see it if You'd be offended at frank talk of sex.
See it if You love a drama about a touchy subject. I was shocked when I found out what this was about. Don't find out just see it and be surprised
Don't see it if a touchy subject which is 100% accurate bothers you
See it if you enjoy good acting and provocative situations.
Don't see it if you expect an interesting premise to develop in satisfying ways.
See it if You enjoy a well written well performed EDGY drama. The ending drops off a bit from the caliber of most of the show.
Don't see it if non traditional sexual interaction is offensive (no nudity).
See it if want to see some great acting on stage. Subject matter is absurd and from from the norm.
Don't see it if You are easily offended and you do not like situations that are far away from the norm.
Critic Reviews (20)
"Contemporary realism predominates in Bill Rauch’s impeccably designed production...The play’s hints of the fantastical don’t quite read. There is something a little bloodless and cerebral here, too: an intellectual experiment beneath the stormy passion. So there is much to be grateful for in the excellent casting...The oddest, least satisfying thing about 'Night Is a Room' is its conclusion, which wraps things up far too neatly."
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"The writer addresses a subject that seems positively bourgeois...'Night is a Room' faintly recalls Albee and Pinter’s cryptic, psychosexual puzzles, but Wallace carves out her own territory with rich, daring (if too often bathetic) language. Desire, genetic destiny and the destructive force of love are the topics here, ones that transcend class."
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"'Night Is a Room' feels a lot like ersatz Albee— but without Albee’s stinging language or his biting cerebral assault on the moral standards of our smugly liberal society...Wallace writes with a kind of ecstatic lyricism, a love song to the sound of her own poetic voice. But while the individual images can be beautiful, the age-old conflict between mother and wife is reduced to a single blunt and literal metaphor."
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"Even with long swaths of beautiful writing mixed in amid the inescapable pulpiness, 'Night Is a Room' doesn't really accomplish as much as it wants, nor does it feel particularly substantial...The second act wraps the piece up with too neat a bow for all the messiness that has transpired...Still, it's consistently entertaining, thanks to mordantly funny dialogue and a pair of stunning performances from Dominczyk and Dowd."
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"While a deeper play that treats the subject with sensitivity could be effective, 'Night is a Room' is so heavy-handedly written and loaded with bombastically dramatic situations that at this past Saturday's matinee a great deal of the audience was laughing out loud during scenes that were surely meant to be taken seriously...The fact that director Bill Rauch's cast is so good, and so honestly committed to the material, only makes the script's clunkiness more apparent."
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"It is tautly constructed, rooted in a highly dramatic situation...And it is a first-class, 100% Grade A lulu...Wallace hasn't done a thing to make it even mildly believable. Having taken on this dubious case study, the director, Bill Rauch, does more with it than one imagines possible, aided by a cast that deserves much better...It seems rooted in theories that don't exist outside the playwright's mind, resulting in a work that feels willfully contrived."
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"The combination of all the elements help ensure that 'Night Is a Room' will be one of the year's most talked-about plays...Wallace is subverting our expectations and tolerances, daring us to question and judge people who are being forced to endure unimaginable horrors...Because 'Night Is a Room' gives us so much to chew on, the easy-to-swallow ending is imbued with a bitter aftertaste that stops just short of ruining the five-course dinner that precedes it."
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"Wallace…has a great ear for dialogue and has crafted a vivid picture of the lives of the two very different women...I would tighten up the introduction or change the pacing. But as the play progresses, Rauch expertly guides the later intimacies and blow ups so that they crackle with energy and no moment seems extraneous. If you’re looking for a play with unpredictable twists and outstanding acting, you’ll be rewarded with a deft portrait of ruin and renewal."
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