Rotterdam NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Hartshorn - Hook Foundation Ltd presents this bittersweet, Olivier Award-winning comedy about gender, sexuality, and being a long way from home. Part of 59E59's annual Brits Off Broadway festival.
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See it if You have an interest in LGBT issues and real discussions around sexuality and gender. You enjoy great acting and thought provoking subjects
Don't see it if You have no interest in discussions of gender and LGBT relationships. Want a big production. This is intimate and real.
See it if you're interested in stories about gay & transgender topics, are open-minded, OK with brief partial nudity & language
Don't see it if are not interested in LGBT topics, don't enjoy small,close up intimate theater setting, are offended by language and brief partial nudity Read more
See it if you want to see an excellent,serious but funny show about important gender identity topics
Don't see it if you are not open minded about gender identities
See it if you want a deeply emotional show that touches on a variety of queer themes. I'm not a crier, but I sobbed during a particular scene.
Don't see it if you don't like queer subject matter, or you're looking for something light.
See it if You want to know more about people you care for in crisis. The couple is facing a challenge to their relationship and love. Can love survive
Don't see it if You don't care to view couples in crisis.
See it if Beautifully acted and written drama about identity, love and compassion. You truly care about these characters. Many moved to tears at end.
Don't see it if You don't care for plays about transgender people.
See it if You are interested in learning about the current societal issue of transgender as it relates to young people. This is a play with a heart !
Don't see it if You cannot deal with seeing very painful and very personal issues of sexual identity portrayed literally almost in your face. See it anyway!
See it if Wonderful exploration of sexuality, love, and searching for self-understanding. Excellent characters, dialog, and youthful setting.
Don't see it if You are not interested in alternative sexuality and gender issues. You don't like relationship dramas. Read more
Critic Reviews (25)
"Josh, and even Adrian, are woefully underwritten, making us empathize more with Alice’s confusion after her relationship is drastically redefined. The director, Donnacadh O’Briain, moves things along swiftly...The course of love is not quite as smooth...Writing a complicated transgender role means accepting the possibility that the character may not be entirely likable, which may be Mr. Brittain’s finest achievement."
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"A sincere but overlong dramedy...The play feels very B.C.: Before Caitlyn...At times it seems positively quaint. Even so, 'Rotterdam' poses pertinent questions about what makes us who we are, with surprising humor and knockout performances...All of the characters are feeling growing pains of some kind. That helps 'Rotterdam' reach beyond its semi-topical trans hook. We are all perpetually on the way to who we want to be, and can only hope that those we love will join us on the path."
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"What matters most about this show isn't the excellence of its constituent parts, though. It's what they create when combined. The punch of the script, together with the fierce acting and unifying direction, make for a living, aching portrait of a trans man and a transitioning relationship. And what relationship isn't always transitioning?...The triumph of 'Rotterdam' is the triumph of all great theater: It finds its way to the universal through the personal."
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“This is a show that will touch the hearts and minds of everyone, a topical play that must be seen…An insightful view of love and identity. It captures the intensity of four people's situations while conveying the humor of everyday life. You will be in awe of the talented cast that brings every moment of this stirring play to life. Each of their character portrayals is spot-on…They master the fast-paced dialogue along with the rapid scene changes…An affecting play, brilliantly presented.”
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"Under Donnacadh O'Briain's fast-paced direction, we seem to catch the characters on the fly, breathlessly bopping from one crisis and/or revelation to the next; it's a measure of his work, and Brittain's writing, that we become attached to both Alice and Adrian...All four cast members are in sync with the script's sharp-elbowed wit as well as the deeper emotions underneath...Credit 'Rotterdam' for treating its complex subject with sensitivity and wit."
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"These are important issues, more than worthy of being explored...Unfortunately, 'Rotterdam' does little to move things forward. Instead of probing deeply into the questions being raised, the play deals with everything at a surface level...It doesn't help move things along when the playwright brings in a pair of supporting characters who are even less developed than the two at the center...A missed opportunity to deal directly with the issues the play raises but fails to elucidate."
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“Though director Donnacadh O'Briain has a real challenge negotiating so many quick scene changes, and you may feel, at times, that there's too much shouting and anger about--making it a sort of ‘Who's Afraid of Virginia’ without the ‘Woolf’-- ‘Rotterdam’ is really a smart play that gets you thinking about transsexuals in new and vital ways.”
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"An emotionally complex, and deftly written play, directed beautifully by O’Briain...Wonderfully designed in such a way that enables the emotional moments of the production to soar beyond what is scripted...Its conversation on the subject of the trans community is handled in a way that feels genuine, and never heavy-handed...Freeman shows us an individual surpassing gender identity, giving us a performance altogether devastating, hopeful, and incredibly relatable."
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