The Liar
83

The Liar NYC Reviews and Tickets

83%
(151 Ratings)
Positive
91%
Mixed
7%
Negative
2%
Members say
Clever, Funny, Entertaining, Delightful, Great acting

About the Show

Classic Stage Company presents David Ives' adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 'Le Menteur,' a 17th-century farce filled with misunderstandings and mistaken identities.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (151)

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485 Reviews | 93 Followers
100
Ambitious, Clever, Delightful, Entertaining, Great staging

See it if you enjoy being surprised with laughter.

Don't see it if are a stick on the mud, because it is a FUN evening in the theater that will have you leaving the theater, surprisingly happy.

100 Reviews | 15 Followers
100
Clever, Delightful, Great acting

See it if you enjoy great acting, wonderful verse in iambic pentameter, a wonderful well acted intelligent funny show

Don't see it if you can't endure outstanding theater steeped in the past with great regard for today's culture

TT
146 Reviews | 28 Followers
100
Entertaining, Funny, Great acting, Great writing, Must see

See it if You love zany comedy in verse set in 1600s Paris poking fun at the rowdy bawdy times. Oh this was such fun. The audience loved it!

Don't see it if You want a serious drama and don't like to laugh out loud. Don't like zany period farce.

570 Reviews | 87 Followers
98
Clever, Delightful, Great acting, Great writing, Great staging

See it if you want an incredibly funny and witty play. Ives' translation is brilliant.Acting is virtually flawless. Carson Elrod shines. Don't miss it

Don't see it if you have trouble following an old fashioned farce. Just go along for the ride. It is meant to be confusing. Very funny and engrossing.

82 Reviews | 37 Followers
97
Great acting, Great writing, Hilarious, Entertaining, Clever

See it if you like 17th c fluffy rom-coms, brilliantly adapted to contemporary language, directed and performed beautifully in an intimate space

Don't see it if you don't like stories of confused identities, told in pentameter; due to 3-sided seating view may be obstructed from some seats. Read more

79 Reviews | 9 Followers
96
Hilarious, Intelligent, Great acting, Great staging, Must see

See it if You love clever puns, appreciate the quirky humor of David Ives ("Venus in Fur") and don't mind iambic pentameter that's not Shakespeare.

Don't see it if You dislike period comedies and don't get puns. Read more

114 Reviews | 9 Followers
95
Clever, Delightful, Entertaining, Great acting, Funny

See it if you enjoy old-fashioned theatre reinvented in a way that blends the old and the new seamlessly and is still great fun.

Don't see it if you are not curious about how XVII century humor can be reshaped to make midern audiences laugh.

102 Reviews | 90 Followers
95
Great acting, Quirky, Great staging, Great writing, Hilarious

See it if are a fan of mr ives plays, the cast is an excellent group of actors. very funny, we had a blast

Don't see it if you don't like to laugh

Critic Reviews (40)

The New York Times
January 26th, 2017

"'The Liar' is, throughout, an effervescent delight. Mr. Ives’s lyric and comic invention never falters as he blends, in capering, cascading verse, both the cultivated language and decorous rhythms of classical comedy and cheeky, up-to-the-minute slang...Michael Kahn, the longtime artistic director of the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, unsurprisingly proves supremely adept at guiding his actors through the verse, so that there’s no daylight between character and language."
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Time Out New York
January 26th, 2017

"As in Ives’s superb 'The Heir Apparent,' much of the 'The Liar’s' pleasure stems from a continual flow of clever verbiage trippingly delivered by a vibrant cast that includes Carson Elrod and Kelly Hutchinson. As lies flood our news feeds daily, the play’s subject might not seem so funny anymore. But high-level theatrical escapism of this nature makes a strong argument for itself."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
January 26th, 2017

"A sparkling if sometimes overbright comedy...Mercilessly allegro and dense with enjoyments, it can sometimes feel a bit exhausting on the receiving end...At the breakneck tempo set by director Michael Kahn, some of the actors seem to strain to get every joke to land with a thump...Still, the troupe is mostly expert, and in the case of Carson Elrod, better than that...In any case, to laugh heartily in the theater again, after what seems like 400 years, is worth any quibbles."
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New York Daily News
January 26th, 2017

"Written in verse, the script showcases Ives's near-peerless way with wordplay and wit, gleeful anachronisms and inside jokes. Still, the exposition-heavy first half isn’t quite as breezy or fizzy as one might hope. And director Michael Kahn’s cast might crank the volume down to 10 — Classic Stage Company is a small house, so why shout? After intermission, the plot untangles. So does the production — and everything clicks."
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The Hollywood Reporter
January 26th, 2017

"Ives takes what should be a tough sell for modern audiences and turns it into an awful lot of fun...The production...doesn’t always live up to the writing’s sparkle. Most of the ensemble lack the necessary comic flair for the piece, and Kahn’s staging, for all its fast pacing, tends toward the one-note. Thankfully, there are exceptions...It’s these performers, and Ives’ script, that give the evening its buoyancy and its genuine comic pleasures of both the slapstick and sophisticated variety."
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Entertainment Weekly
January 26th, 2017

"Though the madcap first act flies by, the second feels a bit slower, at least until the action ramps back up to its inevitable conclusion. Ives has written a clever script—the decision to stick with verse could have been an annoying conceit, but in his capable hands, it’s an ingenious way to tweak the source material… From the rapid-fire dialogue and the mistaken-identity shenanigans to one sublimely silly duel, Ives’s 'Liar' is a treat—and that’s the truth."
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AM New York
January 26th, 2017

"The text, which is made up of rhymed couplets, combines sly wit and old-fashioned romantic rituals with coarse humor, a modern point of view and countless anachronisms...Staged with speedy comedic flow by Michael Kahn, 'The Liar' is a lighthearted, light-as-a-feather delight. The small cast, wearing deluxe period attire, delivers the rhymed banter and physical gags (such as repeated slapping and mimed swordplay) with youthful, hyperactive vigor."
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Theatermania
January 26th, 2017

"Even if the play isn't the laugh-out-loud comedy of the year, it comes as a welcome respite from our postmodern age of words without meaning...Ives' adaptation is slow to get off the ground...It never culminates in the tear-producing belly laugh we truly crave. Director Kahn makes up some of the difference with a caffeinated staging that keeps the ornate plot churning along...A diverting, visually sumptuous, but only mildly funny evening at the theater."
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