White Noise NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (171)
See it if You want to see another play about race relations...yawn.. a minimalist set. Parks top dog/ underdog was much better.
Don't see it if Play was too long, minimal set had to long monologues, too preachy. If you want something really cutting edge.
See it if you're fascinated by American racial issues. Strong acting. Well staged, altho in-the-round w difficult sight lines.
Don't see it if you need a focused work; many subplots. Doesn't fulfill promise of premise. Needs cuts. Engrossing, but unsatisfying. Plot holes. Talky.
See it if Everything about this was stunning, especially the script. Show of the year so far.
Don't see it if You can’t stomach riveting shows about race.
See it if Black & white friends embark on a stomach-churning experiment. All of us are damaged - and continue to suffer - from the legacy of slavery.
Don't see it if You don't want to squirm. It's long, indulgent, and contrived, but not meant to be realistic.
See it if ur a fan of Parks & want to see her strain credulity in an effort to incite & challenge our notions of what it means to be black in America.
Don't see it if you don't want to be lectured and preached to by a platitudinous playwright via four archetypal characters' interminable monologues. Read more
See it if A first rate cast led by a charismatic Diggs keep us riveted throughout Park's provocative but overwritten 3hr opus Sharp, shocking & timely
Don't see it if Parks' dramas while always overstuffed w/intelligence are often messy & didactic; no exception here Eustis unable to corral all the subplots
See it if You’re interested in relevant plays about racism that are smart and witty, and don’t feel stereotypical or banal.
Don't see it if You can’t deal with a 3 hour play with some lengthy monologues, no matter how fast it moves. This still needs some light tweaking, too.
See it if Confrontationally comedic and then provocatively dramatic look at race, class, and slavery. Well cast with Diggs ("Hamilton") in the lead.
Don't see it if Four long monologues.Ebonics.Stunt request to don slave choker.Overly long doesn't make it epic.Audience to sort meaning inside the verbiage Read more
Critic Reviews (28)
“Parks’s enthrallingly thought-packed new play...Directed with a radiant clarity...Superb four-member cast...Any annoyance I felt with Parks’s plot contrivances was erased by the thrill of the play’s uncompromising revelations of character...Four ravishing monologues, give this production its pulsing heart...Each performer has one, delivered with a devastating transparency...Though ‘White Noise’ runs a full three hours, and skids on some of its plot twists, it doesn’t feel long.”
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“The brilliance of Suzan-Lori Parks’s eviscerating new play ‘White Noise’ is that underneath the finely crafted, often sharply funny apparent realism of its surface, its roots stretch deep away into archetype. Each one of its quartet of characters is at once an individual, nuanced and developed...’White Noise’ is a full three hours long, but its craft is tight and its stakes ever-intensifying.”
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“Parks' new play deals with many important issues...It sacrifices credibility, coherence and a compelling narrative in favor of didacticism. Parks doesn't quite seem to know what to do with her provocative premise once it's been established...The play feels bloated...with unnecessary subplots...That's not to say ‘White Noise’ isn't engrossing at times. The drama makes many incisive points, and the dialogue frequently rings true even if the characterizations and situations don't."
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"Opens with a burst of brainy energy that lasts through the first act. But it takes a nosedive in the sloppy second half, confounding the assured direction of Oskar Eustis and the best efforts of a small, ace cast headed by the magnetic Diggs...Director Eustis has created a warm environment that allows the romantic affairs, close relationships and casual couplings to feel natural and unforced...Although well-played by the likable actresses, the female characters are hardly developed at all."
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"Notwithstanding its far-fetched and questionable concept, ‘White Noise’ is mostly engrossing and provocative. It is also overstuffed, with portions that are jumbled and stagnant (including rambling confessional monologues), suggesting that the play would benefit from further revision...Eustis’ intimate and intense production is built around a quartet of electrifying, multilayered performances.”
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"Suzan-Lori Parks's heavy, messy, fascinating play...That the entire play doesn't fall apart under the weight of this ludicrous premise is a testament to the heft of Parks's language and the unflappable ability of this cast to sell it. Diggs leads the way with an emotionally exposed performance...Each of the actors gets an extended monologue, and they use it to capture our imaginations with Parks's trenchant observations."
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"The always thought-provoking Suzan-Lori Parks reverses the situation and finds the danger; not just for her characters, but for audience members who may not like the thoughts going through their heads as they witness her heady social commentary...The superb cast, under Eustis' direction, plays it with believable conviction, and it's the ideas behind the plot that rise to the forefront."
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"Parks makes her argument with such vigor, pursuing her outrageous premise through a series of exquisitely probing confrontations, that long before 'White Noise' reached its shattering conclusion, I had surrendered...Despite its white-hot central plot device, 'White Noise' is marked by the maturity of Park's vision, her penetrating insight into her characters. Oskar Eustis' assured production is marked by smart casting."
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