'Sojourners' and 'Her Portmanteau' comprise a two-part theatrical event running in rep at New York Theatre Workshop. They're part of 'The Ufot Cycle,' a nine-play saga chronicling the matriarch of a Nigerian family.
Read more Show lessSee it if Theatre that is well acted, absorbing and important.
Don't see it if If you want a big comedy or musical.
See it if you want to see a unique story of immigration, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and personal growth. Beautifully staged and acted.
Don't see it if you are Trumpian in your views of immigrants and women. Read more
See it if You are interested in a complex account - neither pitying or uplifting - of assimilation in the US.
Don't see it if You want something simple.
See it if you want to gain new cultural perspectives. This story of Nigerian immigration to the US in the 70s is fresh, the performers are vibrant.
Don't see it if you are looking for a quick-moving entertainment. The audience sits with the characters through growing pains, and requires some patience.
See it if You're interested in experiences of immigrant women and you want to see them deeply and subtly rendered.
Don't see it if Uneven writing bothers you. One-dimensional zany characters bother you. A bit of sag in the middle bothers you.
See it if ... you are interested in the topic and can tolerate some cartoonization of the characters.
Don't see it if ...you like a faster-paced play. The writing was kind of flat and the staging-- that revolving stage-- wasn't effective. Repetitive.
See it if This is an absorbing, original play, part of a 9-play Ufot cycle.
Don't see it if I don't know why you wouldn't see it.
See it if you'd enjoy an intimate story with strong character development. I felt attached to the characters and knew them quite well.
Don't see it if you mind missing some dialogue because it's not in English. You aren't interested in family dynamics or the immigrant experience. Read more
"If 'Sojourners' has a significant problem, it's that Udofia is less adept at crafting action and events that match the beauty of her words. Very little, in fact, happens during the play, and the few things that do occur are not enough to completely support a two-hour-and-15-minute running time; the dialogue is good enough to prevent the show from dragging, but it has few other tangible sources of motion...The cast, however, is unfailingly wonderful."
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"Though jagged in structure, 'Sojourners' is a quite moving romantic drama due to its wonderful performances and fine writing...The plotting is weakened by repetitive scenes that drag...Despite these flaws, the play by its conclusion is a compelling experience...Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar realizes the author’s worthy but rambling vision."
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"Could not have asked for a better world premiere production of her exploration of immigration, assimilation, and cultural identity...From the moment the lights come up, 'Sojourners' is a transporting experience...I would put this ensemble up against any in New York— you won’t find a quartet of performers more perfectly suited to their roles."
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"Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar seems hamstrung by the drama’s largely realistic demands; his actors chew the scenery with such unrelenting passion you imagine the backstage area to be stocked with throat lozenges and honeyed lemon tea. A simpler staging might have made the performance less ponderous, but ‘Sojourners’ itself is too dependent on internal monologues that tell instead of show, and artificially colorful characters to make a two and a half-hour sojourn with it especially inviting."
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"Udofia’s play cleverly touches on the variations of the American dream for everyone who feels like an outcast...If at times the play allows the characters to be slightly caricaturesque, the journey it takes us on is absolutely necessary."
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"This production would have been more effective with a clearer and more streamlined unfolding of the essential story, particularly its intriguing climax...Ed Sylvanus Iskandar has assembled a four-member cast that does justice to the material...There is a rotating set in 'Sojourners'...Like the play itself, it has something of an unwieldy construction, at times annoying, but it drives home the feel of a world in which everything is both dislocating and connected."
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"Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar has staged this deeply beautiful, complex new play with both compassion and humor...'Sojourners' is the first in a proposed nine-work play cycle. By itself, it's a rich piece, looking at how America changes the people who come here, for better and for worse."
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"Unfortunately, much of Udofia's detail-rich script plays as if it were a series of overlapping monologues, many of which repeat the same information. Further undermining the potential of the play is Ed Sylvanus Iskandar's direction which requires the performers to generally look toward the audience as they speak...It's a pity because the tales that Udofia's sharing are pungent, and Iskandar has a superlative four person ensemble at his disposal."
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