The Undertaking NYC Reviews and Tickets

"The show is about confronting death, and it is both absorbingly universal and unusually personal. Two versatile actors, Dan Domingues and Aysan Celik, portray several people interviewed for the project...But mostly they play Cosson and his friend Lydia, a Brazilian artist who offers to be his guide into the underworld...Cosson braves looking confused and even faintly ridiculous. But that, the play suggests, is the price of engagement. The fog on the mirror is a sign of life."
Read more

"'These interviews are neither diverse nor digested, resulting in a show that feels both thin and unenlightening...Feels more self-involved than bravely personal. The fact that Cosson's fear derives from no immediate health concern only serves to lower the stakes...Thankfully, Cosson includes other voices in the show...Their stories and observations give the piece some much-needed outside perspective, but the interviews feel less contextualized than they could be."
Read more

“There's no other show like it. The two-hander explores matters that people must confront in a totally inventive way...Both Domingues and Celik make seamless character transitions that bring fascinating perspectives to the show...’The Undertaking’ presents the subject of mortality in an informative and even entertaining manner. It takes a topic that people are often hesitant to deal with and makes it entirely approachable. This is a show that should be experienced.”
Read more

“At best, modestly successful...For rather too much of the time, however, these stimulating folks are preempted by Steve and Lydia and their seemingly endless talk about what it all means to them...Far from a disaster-- the actors are too skillful, the supporting characters too engaging...Still, it drags...Next to the company's better efforts, 'The Undertaking' comes off as a rather thin exercise diluted by excessive navel-gazing."
Read more

“Domingues and Celik are both fine actors...But the work overall is too trapped in the real Steve Cosson's vision...The play would be better served by expanding on the use of the interviews to more deeply examine the complex issues surrounding death and dying, or by digging more into the psychological profile of the character of Steve. As it stands, both components are frustratingly underdeveloped...The production lacks a much-needed cohesiveness and unnecessarily obscures its subject matter."
Read more

“Dull, smug and interminable...80-minute hodgepodge...Physical staging ranges from sedate to overdrive, with the actors incited to be manic. The ending, however, does have an affirmative simplicity...A slew of quirky snippets lacking depth and focus. These combined with the busy presentation all make for a slog...If it were performed at a museum, ‘The Undertaking’ would be the sort of thing one could inquisitively watch for a while and then leave to look at something else.”
Read more

"A mere 80 minutes in duration, with well-paced dialogue between the principal characters and arresting interpolations from the playwright's field research. But the enterprise goes off the rails in its final third. he playwright's attempt to explore the nature of death is defeated by the fact that, as Marvell says, the grave's a fine and private place, inaccessible to the living...The final segment of the play begins as a charming conceit but quickly runs out of steam.”
Read more

"Jordan: It’s amazing how funny and light this play can be sometimes...Ran: Steve and Lydia have a very endearing way of talking about death, suffering, and fear...Jordan: These are two really strong performances...Ran: One of the most effective multimedia uses I’ve seen in a while...Ran: I was skeptical because the show tackles the subject, death, in a very intellectual way...Jordan: The intellectual elements are often quite satisfying though."
Read more