The Half-Life of Marie Curie

See it if you enjoy biogrphl theater; learn some abt Curie/lots abt Ayrton. Strg acting (esply Mulgrew in the better role). Funny/feminist insights.

Don't see it if you want a perfect script; HLMC is slow in parts. Same issue repeated. MC seems too weak/weepy. Fight feels manufactured (solutn is easy).

Also The patriarchy still, sadly, dominates, especially in the sciences. Such a loss to mankind that women are not invited to the lab table. I found the play well worth seeing, but I felt the script need more oomph.... Read more Read less

See it if A play about two free think very bright woman and their thought process and relationship.

Don't see it if It is more words than action. If you want a fast play or a big production.

See it if women's relationships are significant to you. Beautiful subtle script explores the friendship of two brilliant accomplished women.

Don't see it if marital fidelity is an issue for you. This is a serious play with lots of humor not at all experimental or musical.

See it if Lady sesh.Feminist fever dream. Mulgrew is manna. Goddesses of scientific wonder and proof shielded from men and scandal."Beautiful genius."

Don't see it if Radon decay."God made women stronger than the world they're in/She refuses to be told how good she is, knowing how much better she could be"

Also "Women are always on the frontline of something/Women are taught not how to defend ourselves,but only to protect our children/Loathing has no effect on me/You're a masterpiece in human form/ How's that?That's the sound of a good idea/You're welcome"... Read more Read less

See it if colorful history lesson about 2 strong, brilliant female friends who help each other become even stronger; excellent chemistry & acting.

Don't see it if you're looking for high drama, action & women with husbands; these 2 large personalities fill the stage with intelligence, humor & science.

Also I loved this play - the banter, openness, hilarity & honesty between friends. Not sure how I would feel with lesser actresses, but no need to worry as these two are terrific.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a play that takes place over 100 years ago.

Don't see it if Do you have trouble understanding plays that take place along time ago. Two person play

Also I usually have a lot to say about everything I see but I was lost from the very beginning on this one. I had trouble following the story. When it was over I didn’t understand what I saw.... Read more Read less

See it if Would like a rich and haunting play based on historical figures that explores deep friendship, smart women, pioneers. It sweeps you up.

Don't see it if Want big production, or don’t like 2-handers/historical fiction..It's well-written and performed, emotional, drama-filled, witty, & wortby.

See it if You like a good story about two interesting women in history.

Don't see it if You want comedy or music.

See it if You want to see two terrific actresses play two terrific women in an interesting story about their lives and friendship. Funny and poignant.

Don't see it if You need a big production. This is a lot of dialogue and very little action. You don't like strong women characters.

See it if A straightlaced play that also happens to be great! Genuinely likeable chrcters. Productive, intellectual women who were also great friends.

Don't see it if u dislike high achievers. U pretend plays re women contributing in not-accidental, not-anonymous, not-posthumous ways r staged all the time.

Also Much more lively than I expected it to be. Mulgrew and Faridany are thoroughly entertaining!

What it is about current narrative trends that makes me think that, outside the Young Adult genre, female characters must obviously work in complete isolation from each other? Almost as if, once a level of maturity/professionalism is achieved, women should expect only men for peers? Don’t think just because Gunderson writes in a linear, clear, and undistracted mode that she’s not taking risks. They pay off. See it.... Read more Read less

See it if Wonderful exploration of two brilliant women as they saw themselves and as the world saw them. Their contributions to science.

Don't see it if I cant imagine not wanting to see this quietly brilliant, funny, articulate evocation of these lives we need to know

Also I loved this. It was fast and witty and seamlessly performed by two accomplished actresses.

There was so much dreck this season, I felt blessed to have seen this little gem... Read more Read less

See it if If you are interested in a show about History and science. An interesting drama.

Don't see it if Do you not see if you prefer musicals or very light dramas

See it if well acted (perhaps a bit overacted) to hear about two people one may not knew about

Don't see it if want to know more about their friendship and the pressures on being women in science. tone of the first half was one note.

See it if 2 brilliant women living & succeeding at a time when being acknowledged was even more challenging that it is today intrigues you.

Don't see it if you aren't interested in history or the fight for women's rights.

See it if you want to see a well-acted play about the friendship of two intelligent scientists that provides insights into their personalities.

Don't see it if you don't enjoy talky, historical plays about notable scientists that is a bit repetitive.

See it if you like historical plays with strong female characters

Don't see it if you are put off by some technical language or have trouble with accents

See it if You like biographical plays with strong actors/actresses, like strong feminist themes, or simply want to see a well acted piece.

Don't see it if You don’t like shows with only 2 characters, want a lot of action in your plays, don’t like being bombarded constantly by feminist themes.

See it if Kate mulgrew was terrific and brought a little known scientist to life. Beyond bios to friendship, struggles and inner life of great minds

Don't see it if There was some odd exposition bracketing the play and curie’s character had a bit much consumption and accent, but important women’s story

See it if you’d like to see a fabulous performance of 2 actors portraying strong and intelligent female scientists and their friendship.

Don't see it if you need a big production with many actors on stage or not interested in stories of female leaders.

See it if you'd like drama on 2 great women of science, well-played & staged, shot through w/poetic language & license. Lots of monkeying w history.

Don't see it if you expect a true story on Marie Curie & her friend Hertha Ayrton or true biographic. It's art & takes artistic license.

Also Lauren Gunderson wrote an amazingly poetic script, which starts w/ Chopin, set mostly in summer 1912. She gives most of the poetry to Curie.

"Radium is a face of nature," she says, "a certain kind of love."

"Me & the glow & the force of the element in my pocket."

"Radium decays to radon & the moment that its element transforms is the moment it's more other than self."

"What's left is science & nature & secrets of the universe."

"It takes heart to question the nature of things."

"Science lifts us above ourselves."

"You can't hate a fact, can you?"

"Underwater, I am weightless,... cradled, ... underwater I am free."

"Knowing what's true & proving it" are like "peering for a moment into the heart of the universe."

"Proof is pure; recognition is political."

"Where have you gone, friend?"

Gunderson makes great use of lines from Swinburne's Hertha, e.g. "I am that which began."

The story veers sharply from real history, but I loved the drama & poetry. Great sound & set, too.... Read more Read less

See it if you like a dose of feminism and wit with your biography. If you want to see a shawl and blanket work as set piece for 80 minutes.

Don't see it if you don't like two women talking. Bit heavy on the melodrama of a broken heart and a scandal but redeemed itself after Marie recovered.

See it if You want to see excellent acting in a show with strong female characters speaking of women's issues.

Don't see it if You want a rip-roaring comedy.

See it if Funny well acted 2 character play. Educational and enjoyable.

Don't see it if Only want big Broadway productions- otherwise, cannot think of a reason.

See it if you're Kate Mulgrew fans; you need a change from the usual bromance/ all-male cast/ or dumb female plot; science + Nobel prizewinners rule

Don't see it if trying to empathize with female achievers hampered by a unyielding patriarchy & "the double standard" would clash with your Ice Age values

Also French laureate Marguerite Borel [pen-name Camille Marbo] sheltered Marie Curie & daughters during "l'affaire Langevin" -- not Hertha Ayrton [1854-1923], who was Marie's friend & taught her daughter math.

Was that the only bit of "artistic license" taken? Or was Madame Curie [1867-1934] the weepy, weak-kneed, lovesick romantic we saw onstage?

Though Curie is rendered sympathetically, I suspect a woman who invented the portable X-ray & drove a vehicle thru WW1 battlefields was not the wimp dramatized in HLMC. Unfortunately, Ms. Faridany was a bit knee-capped by the script.

Kate Mulgrew as Hertha surely has the stronger role and thus livens up the story.

Though I enjoyed watching these 2 accomplished actresses, I kept feeling there was a better story left unsaid.

Marie's bosom buddy French writer Marguerite Borel was accomplished and noteworthy, too. A play about the 3 of them awaits.... Read more Read less

See it if Marie Curie is presented as a woman well ahead of her time, forging a place for herself in the scientific community and fighting the double

Don't see it if you do not like biographical drama

Also standard of what constitutes acceptable sexual and social behavior. Hertha Ayrton, a suffragist, scientist and closest friend of Marie has provided the moral support during the direst moments of her life.
France considered Marie an outsider (also an emigrant, a Jewess, an adulteress etc). in spite of all her accomplishments it failed to accept her as one of its own. No wonder it took sixty years after her death for her to be reburied with Pierre in the Panthéon equivalent of Westminster Abbey (1995). Was this deed a sign of retribution, or a sign of conciliation to the world-wide public opinion?
Acting is superb.... Read more Read less