War NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (74)
See it if you like plays with very complex themes about race. Great acting but the material can be confusing at times.
Don't see it if You don't like heady plays that does not have a linear plot line.
See it if you're interested in a really exciting, really messy new play that goes all over the place but ultimately lands.
Don't see it if you're expecting the perfection that was An Octoroon, Appropriate, and Gloria. This show is something else.
See it if Interesting idea interposed with realistic themes.Believable writing. Solid performances. Relatable, sought-provoking, moving.Very enjoyable
Don't see it if Tool that makes it interesting in the beginning is overused turning the protagonist into narrator.Meyers is miscast agewise (not talentwise)
See it if you appreciate smart writing doing interesting critical work. Williams and Woodard are particularly strong. Racial issues handled deftly.
Don't see it if The ideas sometimes seem more effective than the play itself. Much 4th wall breaking. Family/death content can be cliched. Slightly miscast.
See it if You like Jacob-Jenkins' work. If you want ambitious theatre that deals with important issues in creative ways.
Don't see it if You want simple, straightforward theatre. The scenes are good but the monologues take up too much time, and feel tedious.
See it if Charlayne Woodard is a revelation. Wonderful casting; theatrical to its core; open absorbing; many issues of inequality are addressed
Don't see it if Like a sprinter that soars over some hurdles, crashes into some and then falls over the finish line. Goes off the rails more than once
See it if you want to see an early (albeit less deft) work by BJJ, one the freshest current voices in theatre; you like to explore issues of identity.
Don't see it if you expect a fleshed out, cohesive, masterful addition to BJJ's impressive oeuvre. (It's not very good, but lesser BJJ is still worthwhile).
See it if you really enjoy dramas about family and like seeing new theatre that could use some editing, but has great performances and moments
Don't see it if you need your plays to be well-edited, totally coherent, or do not enjoy confusing metaphors
Critic Reviews (23)
"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."
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"Though acted with spleen and tears, these encounters are more intellectually than emotionally engaging. Yet 'War' turns out to have a rare poetic intricacy and cohesiveness, and you’ll find yourself reassembling its jigsaw pieces in your mind afterward. Like the rest of Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins’s work, it deals with the importance of talking about identity — both socially constructed and primal — and the nigh impossibility of doing so accurately or even sensibly."
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"‘War’ is magnificent yet imperfect....It is transfixing at times and its overall impact is pervasive. The playwright does not give, though, Tate much room for interpretation or nuance. The character is one dimensional…This is a strong, emotional, deep-rooted family drama…'War' is an evolutionary work and acute, intellectual, imaginative individuals have combined talents to sculpt and embody the Yale Rep presentation."
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"Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' new play is a promising but jumbled evening, far from fully formed. Rather, it's a cornucopia of ideas, fragments, bits that seem to have festered in the mind of a talented writer…It's a jigsaw puzzle with pieces from several games— a work in desperate need of a more hard-nosed dramaturge...Director Lileana Blain-Cruz tries her best to wade through all the clutter, with mixed results."
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"Director Lileana Blain-Cruz does coax good character portrayals…The playwright, however, fails to find his message in ‘War'…The coma scenes...are confusing and distract from what could be an interesting play about family dynamics…Jacobs-Jenkins doesn’t develop them or the themes enough to engage us. Folks leaving the theater were asking ushers what the ape scenes were about."
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"Bolder presentational choices could have been made. In some cases, the actors don’t seem up to the changes in pacing, volume, and emotion…You don’t expect a show like this, with its suspenseful death-and-mystery plot, and its attempt to connect its characters’ troubles with centuries of mistreatment of Africans, to be fluid. You do want it to be less disjointed, though. 'War' talks the talk, but its strategy lacks focus, and it loses some of its key battles for clarity."
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"‘War’ proves to be one thrilling, exciting and definitely risk-taking mess, further demonstrating the promise of the dynamic African-American playwright whose originality and audacity are gaining him critical acclaim…But this new play is packed with so many ideas and so much entertaining social commentary, that it tends to lose focus…The only guarantee is that Jacobs-Jenkins leaves you with a lot, quite a lot, to think about."
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