War

"This is a heavily confused play about cultural confusion, a consideration of identity that never settles into a coherent identity of its own…It is so replete with ideas and arguments—and tries to cover so much territory within a confined space—that it chokes on its ambitions. Not that many of the ideas, and the various ways in which they’re presented, aren’t provocative in themselves…This production still seems to exist in limbo in ways that its seriously gifted writer never intended." Full Review

"This whip-smart play uncannily captures the family politics that rupture around the mortality of a parent...Director Lileana Blain-Cruz negotiates between two distinct planes of existence with showmanship and efficiency...With 'War,' Jacob-Jenkins proves that family dramas can be intellectually stimulating, formally innovative, and emotionally engaging all at the same time." Full Review

"Jacobs-Jenkins has never been one to back off from the possibility of making his audience feel uncomfortable...'War' is a play that is loaded with ideas, surprises and some of the sharpest writing around...As characters debate issues of communication and identity, Blain-Cruz's graceful production smoothly transitions from the real to the surreal, as the playwright's intriguing situation twists and turns." Full Review

"A bit of a buzz-kill. The play has something potentially interesting to say about language as a means of defining our common humanity and asserting our individual identity. But in its current over-thought, overwrought, and overwritten state the idea is stalled in the format of a strained domestic drama… Although he loses sight of the subject in the heat of the domestic drama, Jacobs-Jenkins seemed to have been onto something about language." Full Review

"The play’s violence is emotional and rhetorical, not literal, and derives from tensions about race and class; the playwright’s sharp voice resonates above those of the individual characters, who register semi-symbolically…'War' pokes the audience with racial discomfort—in this case, by playing with culturally loaded simian themes...The race it’s most concerned with is the human one." Full Review

"Veering uneasily between naturalistic drama and stylized surrealism, the work doesn't fully succeed on either level…There's no denying the play's cerebral ambitions, even if the playwright is dealing with more themes than he can comfortably handle...Director Blain-Cruz wrestles with, but never pins down, the play's unruly disparate elements...A fluidly staged, visually imaginative production whose technical elegance provides an intriguing contrast to the messiness of the dramaturgy." Full Review

"Compelling ideas and events are introduced, then left dangling. Yet this is preferable to the handful of on-the-nose speeches in which Jacobs-Jenkins tries to explain notions or metaphors too explicitly...But Jacobs-Jenkins is a truly exciting playwright, capable of writing in an archly naturalistic mode and in ways that reach beyond realism...However inchoate or unresolved 'War' may seem, this is an artist who doesn’t monkey around." Full Review

"There is too much that is too hazily rendered. While part of the art of the playwright is that he regularly leaves us with open questions, his prior plays did not leave us scratching our heads…The cast of seven does well...Prime honors, though, go to Woodard...'War' is, indeed, provocative and thought-provoking. But I left Jacobs-Jenkins’ 'Gloria' wanting to rush back and see it again. I left 'War' wanting to go back and see 'Gloria.'" Full Review

"Engrossing, and at times shocking...So rich and unusual is all this, in fact, that it sets a standard the second act is not capable of meeting. Though it resolves all the necessary plot implications, it gets there by way of a bunch of conventional, and too often uninteresting, arguments...If this lapse in subtlety hurts the evening as a whole, it's about the only one there is. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz keeps everyone else on point, and beautifully blends the competing realities." Full Review

"Jacobs-Jenkins’ overloaded play about the need to connect and communicate set in motion by a matriarch's stroke is at war with itself. It careens from theme-to-theme as it toggles between realistic moments and surreal sections. In a production packed with overacting, Rachel Nicks’ natural and quietly affecting performance is refreshing. After the author’s terrific 'Gloria' and 'An Octoroon,' I’ll follow him anywhere. But this latest work goes nowhere." Full Review

"Uncertainty may be the objective of the playwright, whose work often roils blatant and subtle assumptions about both personal and racial identity. And yet there are so many backstories, so many challenging ideas in 'War' that its inability — or unwillingness — to coalesce leaves an unfinished feeling...We learn the world is stranded in racial history and everyone is trapped in a primal zoo. We also learn we wish we knew more." Full Review

"I arrived with high expectations. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Although I credit the playwright for his ambition and imagination, I did not feel that he had produced a coherent work…The focus is divided among too many themes…Particularly in the second act, there are too many long monologues that interrupt the flow…I can’t fault director Lileana Blain-Cruz for failing to bring all the disparate elements together better." Full Review

"Like many younger playwrights, Jacobs-Jenkins seems more comfortable writing exposition-laden speeches than dialogue. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz thus struggles to create a consistent sense of dramatic rhythm over the course of the two hours...They say war involves great stretches of tedium punctuated by moments of terror and excitement. 'War' suffers from a similar imbalance." Full Review

"Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's fascinating, meditative play is a family drama with existential scope, the story of a single clan that widens, in both subtle and ambitiously strange ways, to contemplate inheritance and belonging — not just to parents but to ancestors, racial identities, and the species as a whole...'War' — elegant and thoughtful — is at times more driven by concept than action. But these are concepts that bear extended contemplation." Full Review

"What is identity? How is it tied to our family? To our race?...Each of these questions could occupy its own play, and by splitting focus to grapple with all of them, 'War' lacks a certain direction. But it stayed with me and I found myself mulling over parts of the show in the days after I saw it…There are a lot of ideas jumbled up into 'War,' and it’s mostly compelling, despite that it lacks the necessary cohesiveness to be a truly outstanding play." Full Review

"Jacobs-Jenkins indulges in the trendlet of breaking the fourth wall. In his case the surreal and supernatural, integral to his story, is aided by Roberta’s addressing the audience. His is not a realistic play. Under Lileana Blain Cruz’s direction, it offers what is nearly an out-of-body experience. The techno effects, with lighting by Matt Frey and sound by Bray Poor, and a minimalist set by Mimi Lien, conspire to give 'War' its raw, and visceral power." Full Review

"The title simultaneously refers to a family at odds with each other, the aftereffects of a grandfather’s WWII military service, and a look at how what was affects what is...Strong performances and a touch of heightened theatricality help 'War' rise above the average American family drama. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz beautifully balances the play’s realism and metatheatrics, drawing the audience into the play both literally and figuratively." Full Review