Red Speedo NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (123)
See it if you want to see a very cool expensive pool that only gets used twice, you want to see a riveting, unique thriller.
Don't see it if you can't stand to be genuinely terrified for actors onstage, you can't handle blood or rippling wet muscles.
See it if You like plays of substance that will have you discussing with your friends
Don't see it if You dont like onstage violence
See it if You like snappy dialogue with unexpected plot twists
Don't see it if you don't like violence
See it if Sport theme. Dialog heavy. guy in a speedo.
Don't see it if you are looking for action or comedy.
See it if You enjoy plays with a little humor, but a story with so many layers that you don't really know until the final scene how it will end.
Don't see it if You want to laugh, or don't like theater about serious topics, or anything predictable.
See it if Original plays
Don't see it if Sports
See it if You want a deep dive into the pretzel logic of ethics in sports. some parts are overwrought, but overall there's more meat than fat here.
Don't see it if You're bored by sports topics or come in expecting the text to be as perfect as the set design.
See it if you enjoy topical plays, see a dazzling set, enjoy stage confrontations and delicious twists, enjoy good acting and see a great young actor
Don't see it if Sports stories don't interest, don't like shows without an easy resolution, don't like plays in which all characters act badly
Critic Reviews (27)
"There’s definitely truth in advertising where 'Red Speedo,' Lucas Hnath’s fascinating play, is concerned. The skimpy swimsuit is the only attire worn by would-be Olympic swimmer Ray throughout this taut 90-minute work...Hnath is a master of creating well-crafted characters who turn out to be far more complex (and unpleasant) than they initially seem...You may well be looking at swimming competitions in a different light after seeing 'Red Speedo.'"
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"Like each of Mr. Hnath’s previous plays seen in New York, ‘Red Speedo’ is both thematically and theatrically absorbing. It raises ethical questions of the 'what price glory?' type related to how and why athletes use performance-enhancing drugs...It uses these questions, though, more as melodramatic levers than for substantive moral debates...Still, its dramatic waters are fine and you should definitely consider diving in."
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"Hnath deploys these gifts ably in 'Red Speedo,' a confident and sometimes cunning piece about sports doping...Easily the most topical work he has produced and perhaps the most accessible...Under Blain-Cruz’s direction, there is real fervor to these battles, even as a few of the twists are predictable and an emphasis on the characters’ venality somewhat relentless...The actors have found the rhythm of the lines, if not always the way to make them sound natural. Still, they do adroit work."
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"This is brisk, bracing and brutal drama; human, funny and so intense that the weak-hearted might need to shield their eyes...'Red Speedo' seems to be something like a two-hour play, except the actors hurdle their way through in eighty minutes. Explosive...Director Lileana Blain-Cruz makes a strong impression. She does an altogether stunning job...Hopefully 'Red Speedo' will extend so that more theatergoers have the opportunity to meet this important new playwright."
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"This new play by Hnath addresses several issues that arise from our obsession with competitive sports...Many plots and counterplots collide. Unfortunately the play sheds far more heat than light. The lack of a sympathetic character is not necessarily fatal to my interest in a play, but it certainly doesn’t help that there is no one to root for here...Director Blain-Cruz does her best with an unsatisfactory ending."
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"Hnath’s script and Lileana Blain-Cruz’s direction are as lean and muscular as the bare torso displayed by Alex Breaux who gives a deceptively complex rendition of Ray, balancing the athlete’s apparent guilelessness with a cunning and aggression as ruthless as his sibling’s. When the two clash in an ugly climactic fist fight (staged with gut-wrenching detail by Thomas Schall), this depth charge of a play hits you where it counts."
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"'Red Speedo' is a pretty compelling look at America’s malfunctioning moral compass...Lileana Blain-Cruz directs a lot of scenes with super fast back-and-forth that artificially amps up the pace. That’s fine when the dialog is throwaway, but I felt some relevant information was passing me by...I enjoyed 'Red Speedo', but it would have been nice to walk away with something more uplifting than 'people are shallow, present-day values are corrupt, and athletes are cheats.’"
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"'Red Speedo' is the latest addition to the increasingly substantial body of work by playwright Lucas Hnath...Hnath doesn't paint villains and heroes or delight in showing everyone morally compromised. He shows everyone as human and complicated...'Red Speedo' doesn't quite get the gold...It's not completely at home in the world that's depicted...All the technical elements overseen by director Lileana Blain-Cruz are first rate. And the cast is exceptional."
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