Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale
Closed 0h 50m
Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale
53

Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale NYC Reviews and Tickets

53%
(29 Ratings)
Positive
28%
Mixed
27%
Negative
45%
Members say
Confusing, Disappointing, Great acting, Thought-provoking, Edgy

About the Show

59E59 presents this dark fairy tale that explores the lives that were torn apart by war, and asks what it truly means to belong.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (29)

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180 Reviews | 39 Followers
85
Absorbing, Confusing, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Resonant

See it if You're open to a non linear show where you won't have a clear answer to what's going on/who exactly the characters are. A creative journey.

Don't see it if It'd drive you crazy to not be able to follow the reasoning behind events. Violent subject matter, though not a painful show to watch.

143 Reviews | 35 Followers
75
Dizzying, Edgy, Ambitious, Quirky

See it if You like creative and quirky show. The acting were good, especially the role of Madonna.

Don't see it if You don’t like the modern take of the war-torn family. Read more

112 Reviews | 21 Followers
70
Confusing, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Ambitious, Great acting

See it if If you're looking for more a performance piece than a play, and like risk taking and nonlinear structure.

Don't see it if You only like traditional theater with straight forwards plot lines.

186 Reviews | 53 Followers
56
Confusing, Disappointing, Intense, Quirky, Slow

See it if you like a condensed story

Don't see it if you like your stories to have a beginning, middle and end.

475 Reviews | 59 Followers
48
Confusing, Disappointing, Pretentious, Emotionally devoid, Insubstantial

See it if you like avant garden theater that deals with impact of war on people, misogyny, marriage and sibling relationships.

Don't see it if you like theater rather than performance art & dealing with serious issues in a way that touches your emotions instead of sterile stylism.

457 Reviews | 101 Followers
30
I just didn't get it. and i found the actors irritating

See it if I'm not sure who this would appeal to. I saw that someone said it had an appeal to a specific audience. It didn't say who.

Don't see it if You are not interested in ethnic war zone dramas with implied violence and a constant threat to pull the pin in a grenade. Sorry, I'm lost.

394 Reviews | 34 Followers
30
Banal, Disappointing, Insipid, Slow, Confusing

See it if You want to see a short play about one women's thoughts, The acting is very good, but the talented actresses can’t salvage this play.

Don't see it if Just don’t see it, It’s a waste of time,

52 Reviews | 15 Followers
26
Confusing, Disappointing, Weird

See it if Your are masochistic and want to suffer seeing a short show that seemed to go on forever.

Don't see it if You like to see a show with substance and purpose. Read more

Critic Reviews (12)

BroadwayWorld
November 16th, 2017

"This two-hander is an engaging play, one that stirs the imagination...The adult fairy tale is completely original as merges reality and fantasy in surreal settings...Tunde Skovran and Julia Ubrankovics excel in their demanding roles as they master both the dialogue and the action of the show's enthralling scenes...'Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale' is an inventive show that challenges ideas about people's backgrounds and lifestyles. It is truly an unforgettable production."
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Talkin' Broadway
November 14th, 2017

“Watching ‘Toys' is like attending an exhibit of abstract expressionism and trying to make heads or tails out of what you are seeing. Cryptic, bewildering, absurd, nightmarish...'Toys’ is unusual, to say the least, opaque in its delivery but nevertheless packed with meaning, like a particularly dense poem...You will either shrink away in bafflement, or take up the challenge to piece together the scattered remains of this convoluted jigsaw puzzle of a play.”
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TheaterScene.net
November 17th, 2017

“Hilarity and menace converge in Romanian-born playwright Stanescu’s absorbing and mysterious theater piece...Skovran as Shari and Ubrankovics as Clara are sensational...Stanescu’s dialogue is a heady mixture of Ionesco-style absurdism and fierce realism that sustains her intriguing work that takes the familiar framework of depicting political oppression into a fascinating dimension...Though brief in length, ‘Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale’ is stimulating, provocative, and memorable.”
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Theatre is Easy
November 15th, 2017

"This staging of Stanescu's play is less about the story than about recreating a feeling of loneliness and disembodiment...I would be interested to see a production of 'Toys' that combines Stanescu's poetry and humor with less frenetic movement...It seems indulgent to direct a single actor to place, say, fifty plastic baby dolls in a checkerboard pattern while the audience watches. However, our patience is rewarded with powerful images that stick with you afterward."
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Front Mezz Junkies
November 15th, 2017

“A piece that demands attention, but confuses as much as it enlightens...Director Tompa’s go-for-broke creation is meandering and disturbing as much as it is thoughtful...As theatre, it left me with lots of think about, but not engaged enough to try too hard...More time is needed than the 65-minutes given, that is if you are still interested in the end to do the reconstruction with the hope the finished images will be meaningful.”
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Theatre's Leiter Side
November 15th, 2017

“However much this loose narrative seems to make sense of a sort on the page, regardless of the many huge expositional gaps it exposes, in performance it often becomes indecipherable. That's because…director Gábor Tompa…has given it a radically theatricalized, non-realistic, surrealistic, avant-garde staging that diminishes whatever it's saying by drawing attention away from content to style…This isn't to say some won't find the production and its subject engrossing.”
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M
November 20th, 2017

"Skovran and Ubrankovics are fantastic as the two women. Every time they have a scene together we are captivated by their battles. We are yearning to be part of their journey. It’s when the linear narratives are broken down by more experimental scenes that interest gets a bit muddled. There are some truly perplexing moments, but most of them either are longer than they need to be...Despite this hiccup, 'Toys: A Dark Fairy Tale' delivers a strong and powerful tale."
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Stage Raw
November 19th, 2015
For a previous production

"The crisply rendered and steadfastly unabashed atmosphere of ambiguity...Demands close attention – but it doesn’t necessarily depend on you absolutely understanding what is going on...Tompa brings a taut intellectual ferocity to the piece...Stanescu’s storytelling is intentionally disjointed...Performances are compelling, if inscrutable by design...A fascinatingly complex and not entirely comprehensible drama that actually leaves some vivid impressions for a long time after."
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