The Antipodes NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (169)
See it if It's a play about stories with a wonderful ensemble cast. The writing is quirky but insightful.
Don't see it if The situation keeps you off-balance, so if you have to know what is happening all the time you will be uneasy. Read more
See it if You are a Annie Baker fan as she sets the scene differently and gives you an experience, challenges you as most other playewrights dare not.
Don't see it if You are not willing to give the show a good amount of room to roam, i.e. Need to be on the straight and narrow.
See it if you enjoy comical stories being told, even if the totality is somewhat disjointed.
Don't see it if you are prudish and can't handle lewd references.
See it if you recognize the importance of good stories and appreciate the humor and hypocrisy of the current mantras of innovation.
Don't see it if you think first world problems are boring even when portrayed in a clever well written way.
See it if You enjoy great acting in a thoughtful play. You don't mind sitting for two hours.
Don't see it if You want more of a plot driven play than storytelling. Read more
See it if Baffling but satisfying play about writers jawing around a conference table. The acting is flawless. The personal stories are fascinating.
Don't see it if You need to be a writer, critic or someone intimately involved with storytelling to get what this play is really about. Expert dialogue
See it if you want to take a bath in language and enjoy the insider-y look at what goes on in a writer's room.
Don't see it if you will be bothered by not knowing the specifics of the setting or task, or by the increasingly surreal happenings.
See it if you've never seen Annie Baker's work before
Don't see it if if you are an Annie Baker fan
Critic Reviews (36)
"This simple setup proves a fertile launching pad for Baker’s fevered imagination...'The Antipodes' is her shortest play in a while, but the densest thematically...Now that everyone’s lived experience has been turned into a story...how can anyone know what’s real and what’s performance?...The irony of exploring this tension through a performance is not lost on Baker; she embraces it throughout, gleefully, as the characters’ stories grow stranger and more elaborate."
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"I loved every minute of the first hour, which is full of Baker’s magical, mordant wit and, like the best of her work, constantly destabilizing...Neugebauer’s production strikes the perfect naturalistic note—before departing from it...There are many wonderful things in 'The Antipodes.' But as the show went on, I felt a sense of Baker losing her way. A monologue for one of the two female characters starts like gangbusters, but goes on too long—much the same could be said of 'The Antipodes.'"
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"The drama is a satire—taken to the point of surreal exaggeration—of the nature of commercial storytelling...A dim view of corporate (mostly male) storytelling...The wayward group of writers is played by a marvelous ensemble cast...Nicole Rodenburg is so hilarious that the performance draws spontaneous applause. In fact, she plays the only character in the play that generates a coherent narrative...Attempts to come up with ideas often descend into the unreal."
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"I found it to be simply extraordinary. It’s a rarified experience, so much so that I would hesitate before actually recommending it to anyone...Her grasp on the surreal and abstract is arguably as strong or stronger than any other author of the last century...It certainly doesn’t hurt that the premiere production is as gorgeous as the play itself...Neugebauer’s staging is both unendingly creative visually and features an ensemble cast with an almost impossible level of precision."
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