Small Mouth Sounds NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (325)
See it if You want to see how a near wordless play manages to pull off being so incredibly moving, funny, thoughtful, and complex.
Don't see it if The idea of a near silent play seems excruciating. But even then...try. It's gorgeous and worth a shot (I had been worried).
See it if you've ever been into meditation or done meditation retreats; like something different that's not the same old same old.
Don't see it if you want everything spelled out for you; don't like offbeat characters
See it if you are interested in unique productions and performativity beyond speech
Don't see it if you are offended by nudity
See it if you're looking for cutting edge theater that sets you thinking. How do they manage do they manage to say so much by saying so little?
Don't see it if you're in the mood for something light and frothy, though the play has a wonderful balance of humour and insight.
See it if You like clever original shows and be right there with the actors as tho you're in the room with them. All done without talking!
Don't see it if You're looking for a classic play on a classic stage. If you don't like theatre in the round, seeing the audience opposite you.
See it if You enjoy very clever physical humor; excellent acting without speaking
Don't see it if You think EST changed your life
See it if you want to see a show that explores human connection with minimal dialogue
Don't see it if You're offended by nudity or the thought of sitting through a show that's 50% silent isn't appealing to you
See it if rare emotional amplitude, a heartbreaker tackling grief, failure, and despair with grace and humor. An empathy-machine, raw and original
Don't see it if you can't take the occasional emotional sucker-punch. The play brings out sudden and intense feelings in surprising ways
Critic Reviews (32)
"These actors are expert at wordless interaction and there is so much humor and so much pain in this play, it's amazing to think that most of it was performed in silence...'Small Mouth Sounds' is unlike anything I've ever seen before and I was so taken with it. I loved the audacity of it and I thought the acting was the finest I've seen, across the board, in a long time."
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"Small Mouth Sounds' manages the extraordinary feat of both reducing human communication to its essentials, and exploding the range of emotion, depth and subtext possible when the need to break through barriers perforce becomes primal. Rachel Chavkin has the extraordinary cast directed on a runway stage configuration, so effectively that you too feel a part of the grand experiment. This play should have a long shelf life."
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“While watching the show, I had a wonderful time; beautifully directed by Rachel Chavkin, it is an enticing theatrical experience, I laughed heartily and it was entertaining, but the moment the show was over, I realized that every single laugh was at someone’s expense and usually at their misery. I was upset that I laughed mindlessly at their pain…’Small Mouth Sounds’ is like a one-night stand; at the time you think it’s great, but the moment it’s over, you feel cheap and ashamed.”
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"An astounding play...The phenomenal cast build their characters and articulate their performances with carefully calibrated facial modulations, body language, and movement, helped by calculated details in their costumes and props…'Small Mouth Sounds' walks a razor’s edge between parody and profundity. Part of the play’s impressive cleverness is that it knows the members of the audience are on their own silent retreat,..'Small Mouth Sounds' is funny as hell."
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"Both hilarious and heartbreaking...Chavkin specializes in visceral theater that refuses to be constrained by the proscenium...Chavkin is just as deft and specific with her actors...They are all terrific...The pleasure for the audience is in putting all the pieces together. Some click into place easily; others are more satisfyingly jagged. At almost two hours without intermission, 'Small Mouth Sounds' is a bit long but it's also nirvana for smart theatergoers."
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"As funny as it is, uh, quietly moving, Wohl’s play is also a model of ingenuity...Both the humor and the pathos spring mostly from wordless interaction, which is testimony to Wohl’s intrepid writing, to the superb acting and to the precise work of Chavkin...The play leaves behind its own warming afterglow. You may not emerge wanting to spend a week with your mouth shut, but Wohl’s play makes a wonderful case for how eloquently silence can speak."
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"Bess Wohl’s wry and observant 'Small Mouth Sounds' is long on emotions and short on words — very short...There are unspoken arguments, sweet gestures of support, seductions and emotional letdowns. Just when you think you get it, there’s a twist. Not every revelation holds water...But in the end, the message is clear: Everybody’s life is messy. You don’t need words to know that."
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"'Small Mouth Sounds' feels like a holiday outing, a minimalist piece of experimental theater that casts the audience as voyeurs in an entertaining adventure that gradually darkens into tragedy...Chavkin’s direction is so supple and the ensemble work so subtle, it’s hard to say exactly when the shift happens — the silent, earth-moving switch from comedy to tragedy that makes this strange little play so moving. But when it does happen, it’s shattering."
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