Thunderbodies NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (19)
See it if Giddy biting satire of American culture with exaggerated characters. Metal music. Zany over-the-top action. Challenging to interpret.
Don't see it if You don't enjoy weird edgy "nonsense" plays with campy characters saying ridiculous things. Small loud theater. Explicit sex talk. Read more
See it if you want to see a play given a full production that is still in dire need of about 100 rewrites.
Don't see it if there are other plays on your "Must-See" list. Just skip it. Read more
See it if Deirdre O’Connell.
Don't see it if Nonsense annoys you.
See it if It's underrated, Dierdre O’Connell was fantastic
Don't see it if ...
See it if not sure how to place this - loved half of it, didn't care much for the other half. Certainly unusual/ambitious enough to be worth watching.
Don't see it if you don't like oversaturation of somewhat monotonous satire Read more
See it if you want to decide whether Jesse Green was too positive about this one. (He panned it.)
Don't see it if you want to keep thinking that Liliana Blain-Cruz can do no wrong. Read more
See it if You enjoy seeing experimental theatre and a fun set.
Don't see it if You are looking for your "normal" or "usual" theatre experience. This is odd!
See it if You like splash without substance and imagery without anything significant to say behind it.
Don't see it if You want something behind the absurdity to hold it up. As it is, this play is floundering and I'm shocked Soho Rep picked it for the season. Read more
Critic Reviews (7)
"Stuffed with cute word twists and tiresome satire...But even if satire is your thing, you might like it to be funny or pointed. 'Thunderbodies' isn’t much of the first or any of the second. Its language is so promiscuous and its object so blurry it seems merely scattershot...Everything moves at the pace of a frantic party while also desperately signaling subversion...'Thunderbodies' certainly had me divided — between morbid curiosity and loathing."
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“A loud, filthy burlesque...’Thunderbodies’ seems mostly to be an excuse for linguistic, rather than political, mayhem...Blain-Cruz has a careful eye for goofy theater business...Jeffers makes several funny, subtle choices...In yet another splendid Off Broadway performance, O’Connell roars through the play, devouring the props and chewing the scenery. Whenever she speaks, the audience crows with delight—it’s such a pleasure to watch a woman really eat.”
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"Though 'Thunderbodies' is bursting at the seams with ugly vitality, its parade of rapacious cartoons feels like little more than a pair of middle fingers...Leaving the potential for real danger and real pathos untapped...Blain-Cruz hasn’t helped Hernández get below its surface...There’s always something to look at in 'Thunderbodies,' but there’s not always something to think about. If the play is to find its power, it will need to get a little more rigorous in the search for its own heart."
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"Mockery without bite, a screeching cartoon based on the proposition that constantly referring to genitalia somehow constitutes a mordant comment on the state of the world. Tarker is a new face, but it's hard to imagine what possessed the perfectly fine director Lileana Blain-Cruz to sign up for this misbegotten project. She has seemingly urged the company to perform at a sustained level of screeching."
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“Doubling down on Tarker's instincts, Blain-Cruz directs the play as if its greatest enemy is thinking too much about it. Popping up and ducking out all around Matt Saunders's blue-and-yellow pastel set, the actors recite their lines quickly, apparently unconcerned if all of them are heard. Zhao's garish lighting (a strobe effect goes on so long you wonder if it's actually intended to induce epilepsy) and Botez's sublimely awful costumes are also calibrated to distract from Tarker's words.”
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“This short, rapid fire of a raucous romp is wildly entertaining, yet illuminating in its unparalleled marksmanship at exposing both the ridiculousness of reality and the surreal qualities of truth. Director Lileana Blaine-Cruz's thoroughly spot-on choices are a tremendous testament to Kate Tarker's thoughtful script...It’s a delight to experience something that catches you off guard with its hilarity, yet makes you think in the most nuanced and complex way."
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“I understand that this is satire...And it is supposed to be funny – the lines indicate this even if the actual staging does not make it so. But for me, satire is usually connected to something...There was none of that here. Just a group of willing actors going through the motion and promising to catch one another as they flew through the air. They do, and everyone ends safely on their feet. Why it all happened, and why we sat and watched it – well that is the mystery.”
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