Operation Crucible NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (94)
See it if you’d enjoy a war survival story of 4 ordinary steelworkers in Sheffield, UK. Strong ensemble cast performs on an intimate stage.
Don't see it if you don’t enjoy war stories or will have trouble understanding heavy northern British accents. Read more
See it if you’d enjoy a crisp, taut, sometimes funny drama about the fallout from a WWII airstrike and the lives of several steelworkers affected.
Don't see it if you have trouble understanding Sheffield accents.
See it if you will enjoy a ww2 story that is well written and will take you on a journey with 4 young men trying to cope with wartime Sheffield.
Don't see it if you don't like tragedy and drama, not an evening of light hearted theatre, but pensive tragedy and a wartime story.
See it if Great character development of four steelworkers and their relationship during WW II. Well written and acted with virtually no set.
Don't see it if You have problems understanding strong accents or trouble following plays with frequent flashbacks.
See it if Lovely snapshot of specific lives at a particular time in history, which winds you deeper into emotional stories. Well deployed flashbacks
Don't see it if Can't understand heavy Yorkshire/Sheffield/Irish accents (and if you go anyway, do NOT spend the whole time hissing, "What'd he say?"!!!)
See it if Taut, compelling, and intense. Performances top notch. Choreography of steel processing work and claustrophobic set enhance overall effect.
Don't see it if Tiny theatre and minimal set really put you in there with the characters. Direction, sound, and lighting work together perfectly. Read more
See it if Relationships among 4 steelworkers before, during, and after they are trapped. High speed choreographed movements and utterances.
Don't see it if You don’t enjoy theater that is part dance & performance art. You are looking for more than a relationship and survival story in wartime.
See it if You want to see great acting and some very clever staging and storytelling.
Don't see it if You want an idea that sustains itself for an entire show - it does wear thin and falter at times.
Critic Reviews (24)
“Knowles’s harrowing drama...based on actual events...What makes the entire experience so riveting, are the men presented. The play deeply examines just who these men were...The acting is very strong. The portrayal of each man is distinct enough to create a compelling picture, both as individuals and as friends. Most striking is how at ease they are with each other...Shanahan’s direction is excellent...Both a stirring historical lesson and a powerful human experience.”
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"Knowles’s mosaic-like approach assuredly builds to some gut-wrenching final moments. These later scenes are the best...In contrast, the play’s early moments, while inventive and energetic, feel breathless and rushed. But when the production slows down and has the confidence to allow quiet, stillness and its atmospheric lighting and sound to draw the audience in – it’s electrifying, personal and raw."
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"A lot of shouting swiftly plays to diminishing returns and so it proves, frustratingly, in this promising new work...An excess of undifferentiated bellowing bedevils Bryony Shanahan’s try-too-hard production, pulling crucial focus from the narrative at key moments. When Shanahan allows the play to take a deep, calm breath and trust in Knowles’s words, as during the hugely affecting ending, it’s far more satisfying."
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"It is through the quality of ensemble acting, movement and writing that this play stands or falls, and by and large it succeeds admirably...From the outset the pace is set fierce and furious with pages of rapid-fire inter-cut dialogue and fizzing interactive physical energy...There is plenty of rough, joshing humour and then pools of repose where each character in turn is allowed more inward moments of self-reflection. This is very assured and mature writing for a first play."
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"High-spirited discussions in Knowles’s brisk, strenuously physical depiction of male camaraderie. The play also demonstrates how the bonds formed in the foundry begin to crumble beneath the rubble of the Marples hotel...Shanahan’s high-tempo production is forged from molten flashes of industrial choreography, but does well to keep the individual characters in focus...Knowles’s close observance of the steel-making process is enough to make even riveting seem a riveting prospect."
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"An amazing play about ordinary people involved, against their will, in momentous events...Having met Arthur, Bob, Tommy, and Phil, I really feel like I was there with them...Over the course of the production, the audience gets to know each one of them intimately...Fantastic from start to finish which manages to humanise an inhumane event perfectly...This really is theatre at its absolute best."
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"'Operation Crucible’ goes at such a breakneck pace. His sharp script and Bryony Shanahan’s dynamic, textured production blast onto the intimate stage...An episodic, non-chronological structure allows us to jump into the workers’ lives, to enjoy their bombastic work banter and watch tender family portraits. The underlining sentimentality is shot through with no-nonsense humour, which saves it from being saccharine."
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"This is live theatre at its best. A brilliantly written play...superbly directed and performed with huge energy and sensitivity by a cast of talented actors with exceptional rapport...Shanahan takes the play at a cracking pace...and is full of invention when exploring the comic potential of the play...The four actors are impressive in different ways...A usually quite inhibited audience has risen to its feet to applaud."
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