Privacy NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (175)
See it if You want to see an intellectual discourse about privacy int he digital age, told creatively with humor and superb acting
Don't see it if You prefer to remain in the dark about privacy in the digital age
See it if You want to experience theatre through a new lens. Be prepared to keep your phone on and refer to it as directed!
Don't see it if You object to recurring audience engagement/participation, or if you would rather ignore the roles of technology/privacy in modern society.
See it if you love immersive, interactive and innovative theater experiences... this is brilliant
Don't see it if you only like traditional theater
See it if you enjoy educational theatre with a humorous twist, are interested in exploring life in the digital age and surveillance culture
Don't see it if you don't use a smartphone or social media, don't like audience participation, only like traditional theatre
See it if You are interested in genre-bending and thought-provoking comedies
Don't see it if You don't like plays with audience interaction
See it if you want to explore & think hard about how we share information today; it's an open-ended participatory work that challenges perceptions.
Don't see it if you don't want to use your smartphone (or don't have one) in the performance; this show works best if you participate. Come w/an open mind.
See it if You are interested in contemporary issues and would like to be entertained
Don't see it if You like classic theatre and want to be profoundly moved by the end of the show
See it if are looking for a out of box interactive theater experience with great acting and an ending that will freak you out!
Don't see it if you want a traditional experience - you're asked to use your phone throughout and the information provided may scare you a bit.
Critic Reviews (41)
“This review of the brave and talented Daniel Radcliffe starring in James Graham’s new play will be about as vague as can be, while still telling you about this funny and deeply disturbing look at our world...Fantastically directed by Josie Rourke...The cast is smart, funny, and totally on-point as they each inhabit numerous real and imaginary characters...Every one of these actors are a joy to behold.”
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“How fascinating you will find ‘Privacy’ - which I felt was sometimes engaging and largely tedious over its two-and-a-half hours - will depend on how little you knew before about how invasive technology can be, how dazzled you are by Rourke’s admittedly inventive staging, and how delighted you are just to be in the room with its star, Daniel Radcliffe...Graham’s germ of a story is, indeed, a good one, so it’s a shame he basically abandons any form of conventional dramatic storytelling.”
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“If this sounds more like a TED talk than conventional theater, the impression is reinforced by there being little plot to speak of (or worth speaking of. There is a bullying director and a therapist and a long-lost love, all of it fairly perfunctory.) Still, the creative team works hard to keep us engaged, not just with the interactivity, but with Duncan McLean’s artful and useful projection design, and a kind of trickster theatricality.”
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“Watching ‘Privacy’ is not unlike being on a cruise ship where the nightly entertainment alternates between mentalists and hypnotists…‘Privacy’ is a play that is conceived more than it is written. In the Playbill, Graham’s author credit is below the credit 'created by James Graham & Josie Rourke,' which is as it should be. Rourke also directs...In the excellent cast, Rachel Dratch and Reg Rogers are especially effective.”
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“Really an excuse for a combination debate on issues of privacy and demonstration of tech wizardry...The proceedings are more fun than frightening, even when things turn somewhat sinister as the information gathered from the audience gets twisted into anti-government evidence...‘Privacy’ raises numerous important issues about our media-crazed, totally public world but addresses them with parlor tricks rather than serious thought.”
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"Short of recruiting Julian Assange to tap-dance in a negligée, Josie Rourke could hardly have applied more headline-grabbing, head-turning panache to this new, souped-up, New York-friendly version of her and James Graham’s techno-savvy play…The evening remains a mass of fascinating material and ideas, with insufficient debate about the security value of governmental snooping. Yet it’s inventive, funny and abounds with memorable images."
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“The difference between privacy and secrecy is one of many topical questions raised in this imaginative and absorbing work of documentary theater...As for Radcliffe, his role here may not seem as flagrantly challenging as past Broadway ventures into musical theater, psychodrama and pitch-black comedy. But it reaffirms his great gift for ensemble acting. This star, for one, clearly thrives on working as part of a community - in the old-fashioned sense of the word.”
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"Radcliffe is totally charming. Meanwhile, under Josie Rourke's inventive staging, old hands like Michael Countryman, Rachel Dratch and Reg Rogers deftly whirl though characters and accents faster than you can say WikiLeaks...Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in a Media Studies class taught by a professor more eager to make his students like him than to teach them anything new...The show doesn't really have anything more to say than you've already known for a longtime."
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