War NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (74)
See it if you like to see a writer grapple with big, disparate ideas lassoed into a small family drama
Don't see it if you need one central theme or argument to take home and are uncomfortable with lots of topics being brought up and then not resolved.
See it if you like Branden Jacob-Jenkin's other works (like The Octoroon), you like plays with a touch of surrealism, you like dramas about family
Don't see it if you're interested in something light and fluffy, you hate any kind of surrealism, you don't like family dramas
See it if You are fine with some random elements added into your drama, and appreciate excellent acting a contemporary story.
Don't see it if You want a straight story without veering off the main action. You're looking for something funny or musical or with superstars in it.
See it if you like writers who bring the whole of their classical education and deep, incisive thoughts to the table
Don't see it if you need something linear and for the tired businessman
See it if I enjoyed the story & performances. It's an interesting concept & aspects of the production are definitely clever & unique!
Don't see it if Parts of it can seem a bit slow. Myers is talented but is miscast as Tate. Would have been better with an older actor.
See it if You're a BJJ completist; you like theater that literally forces you to reflect on yourself after the show ends.
Don't see it if You don't like to sit through long moments of dialogue that don't push the story forward in an engaging way.
See it if you enjoy interesting, compelling, flawed new works from important, young playwrights.
Don't see it if new plays scare you.
See it if you are interested in Jacob-Jenkins work and want to see him explore fresh themes.
Don't see it if you like clearly focused, realistic work.
Critic Reviews (23)
"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."
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"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.'"
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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