The Sickness

See it if You enjoyed a sad & depressing drama on drug addiction with an experimental theatrical touch.

Don't see it if Drug addiction is not a topic that would bring you to the theater.

See it if Don't. It seems to be trying to maybe show what junk time is like: confusing/repetitive/boring/poorly lit/semi-nonsensical. The cast is ok,

Don't see it if the play isn't - it's 80 min that feels like 200. Not enjoyable in any way & not unenjoyable in a way that you'll appreciate. A big misfire

See it if You’re curious about heroin addiction: a death trip on a long bath tub ride to nowhere, escorted by a Peewee Herman look-alike Grim Reaper.

Don't see it if You don’t like shows that make you feel uncomfortably numb & lacking in compassion for those who stumble into the death spiral of addiction.

Also The story started well enough, with a dramatic bang. But it all went nowhere. I liked the two actors, they showed great ability in disappearing behind the facade of terminal addiction. The narrator, who sat behind a heavy plastic curtain with a square cutout that showed him in profile, felt solemn and recalled a Florentine renaissance profile painting. Until he would come out in his incongruous Peewee outfit.

The playwriting didn’t seem to rise up to the actors’ ability. It felt hollow and incomplete, with a big chunk missing. Again, the scene by the window, which the lighting seemed to turn into a guillotine, was promising and attempted to humanize X and Y. But, after a very brief emotional foray into the fateful forces that pushed them to become the living dead, it soon dissipated. Mr. Varda, the writer and director, seemed to feel no effort was worth wasting on X and Y. And the window into their humanity is literally placed into a trash bag and disappears.

X+Y=deserve better.... Read more Read less

See it if you wish the drug withdrawal scenes in "requiem for a dream" or "trainspotting" could be less artful and more repetitive/boring.

Don't see it if these folks clearly have acting talent, but this play is not good. I wasn't offended or shocked by the content, I was bored.

See it if you are up for an intense, up close and personal night of barfing, drugging, moaning and groaning in an almost pointless play about pain.

Don't see it if you cannot stand staring at a toilet bowl, and bathtub and two sick, sad, moaning drug addicts with no intermission.

See it if "X" & "Y" are coupled by the thrall of euphoria or withdrawal. No needles, just forehead thwaps. "This is nobody home/Junk kills your soul"

Don't see it if Junkies have vasts amount of time to reason in this solemn affair:"Did you ever see the soul bleeding,to death, methodically, slowly dying?"

Also "It makes me wrathful and frightened/The only difference between poison and medicine is in the dose/There was something missing from his face, his soul/How long did we not eat?/Let's quit"... Read more Read less

See it if You're a great fan of 60's B&W surrealistic french cinema.

Don't see it if You've ever seen any other depiction of addiction.

Also I applaud the actors for their commitment to the view. Throughout the play I kept thinking "Was this trip necessary?". Nothing here was engaging or illuminating. Some of the bells and whistles were incomprehensible fiddle faddle.... Read more Read less

See it if you like experimental theater and very strong acting.

Don't see it if you’re looking for uplifting entertainment; this is is an intense depiction of addiction.