The Antipodes NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (169)
See it if you love Annie Baker. It's an absorbing trip which will keep you guessing.
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable with ambiguity.
See it if you enjoy the work of. This isn't one of her better works, but leaves one wondering what she will write next. Great cast & staging.
Don't see it if you are not a fan of Annie Baker. If you were foolish enough to have walked out of "The Flick" at intermission.
See it if It's an absorbing mind challenge. Surprisingly hilarious at times and remarkably serious. VERY original.
Don't see it if If you don't like thought provoking. No scenery except a table and chairs.
See it if you have the patience to wait/watch the non-plot build and continue to spiral internally in a random quest for a usable plot
Don't see it if you want an easy to swallow drama with a traditional story telling framework
See it if you're interested in a story about story-telling, or are a fan of Annie Baker's work and style of story-telling.
Don't see it if you need to have clearly wrapped up endings or need a fast moving story.
See it if you enjoy intelligent plays with layers of intrigue, existentialism & surrealism added to a typically mundane scenario. Great ensemble cast.
Don't see it if you're looking for something with an intense plot. Nothing much happens in that regard. If you disliked Baker's previous plays.
See it if Annie Baker's plays takes getting used to. This play is brilliant and engaging, and it is about something and about nothing.
Don't see it if Thought provoking, and mind numbing could get you
See it if you're interested in an allegorical exploration of what it means to be alive and willing to draw your own conclusions.
Don't see it if you like to be spoon-fed a message. This one takes some thinking on your own to get something out of it. (For me, it was well worth it.)
Critic Reviews (36)
"Baker is playing with ideas–space, time–is it horizontal, vertical or a spiral–possibility, relativity, possibility–and this is a smart writer who introduces subjects like a card dealer slapping down cards in Vegas. But the velocity and density of the changing subjects makes the writing too clever by half. Nothing connects. Not these fine actors (seriously excellent performances all around), not these characters, not the stories and not the situation."
Read more
"Just as smart, engaging, and strange as her earlier works...The ensemble cast is fine across the board, but I especially liked Josh Hamilton as an earnest member of the team...Another standout is Emily Cass McDonnell as Eleanor, the team’s sole female participant. It’s Eleanor’s final speeches that lend 'The Antipodes’' gloomy conclusions about the future of storytelling a faint glimmer of optimism, and McDonnell manages to give them a sense of benediction."
Read more
"The play is intriguingly staged by Lila Neugebauer...Some viewers will likely complain that the numerous stories don’t 'add up,' leading us nowhere. But that, I dare say, is Baker’s point...Man and his inner monster, upside down and in his opposite (anti) feet (podes), fighting to see which turns out to be real. Another provocative, deep dish Annie Baker play."
Read more
"Essentially a fantasia on storytelling...The stories that comprise most of the evening have no narrative arc that I could detect; nor do they really tell much about the characters who relate them. The relationships among the various writers go virtually unexplored. There are flashes of humor...What there is not is a cohesive plot or fully developed characters. I suspect that the playwright had more fun coming up with ways to tease the audience than the audience has watching the play."
Read more
“Strange and unexpectedly affecting…The action is deceptively simple as is Lila Neugebauer’s invisible direction and the naturalistic acting of the brilliant nine-member company…An insightful journey tracking the creative process…Phillip James Brannon expertly delivers a seemingly endless, weird creation-myth monologue, Danny Mastrogiorgio and Josh Charles evoke macho to perfection…Their voyage is a fascinating gripping one.“
Read more
"To tell their stories, Baker's characters invoke all kinds of rituals, from the mundane to the mystical...Even though not much happens, it is funny and even suspenseful. Under the deft direction of Lila Neugebauer, the acting is also terrific...This is an ensemble piece and each actor creates a distinct individual recognizable to anyone who's ever been trapped in the purgatory of an office meeting. And maybe the decisively enigmatic 'The Antipodes' is about that too."
Read more
"There's little in the way of conventional plot or forward momentum, just a collection of characters telling each other stories...It’s a playfully compelling piece but there are also darker apocalyptic undercurrents as reports come from the world beyond the hermetically sealed one we’re in. The drama, such as it is, comes from the delicate interplay of the actors. Director Lila Neugebauer orchestrates them with nuance and feeling...A meticulous meditation on the art of storytelling."
Read more
"Engrossing and head-scratching...The actors, commendably, are utterly enveloped in the material...The stories the characters tell are great, but their point—beyond emphasizing the power or not of storytelling—is more than baffling, and after a while you may long for a glimmer of light or some elucidation...By the end it is about the impotence of storytelling, and its limitations...But we still don’t know what wider story the stories have been in the service of. "
Read more