Women Without Men NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (73)
See it if you appreciate craft in every element of a play and production. It's a largely forgotten work of the kind of women who tend to be forgotten.
Don't see it if you want to be bowled over by the newest and the nowest. Its pleasures are delicate and minor but real and sturdy.
See it if you enjoy little known classic plays.
Don't see it if you can't stand Irish accents.
See it if you like quaint period pieces set in Ireland. A mix between Mona Lisa Smiles and Anne of Green Gables. Great acting from senior cast members
Don't see it if you will be bothered by inconsistent accents and tedious and boring subject matter. First act is really slow but picks up after intermission
See it if You like shows with all women casts with characters bickering and being petty.
Don't see it if You don't like period pieces. You don't enjoy dialogue with bickering.
See it if you're looking for a well-acted period piece with a gorgeous set
Don't see it if you don't enjoy watching people snipe at each other or are looking for deep characters. The characterizations were believable but 2D
See it if You are up for a hard dose of how women can use gender as a weapon against each other
Don't see it if You need hope in narrative Read more
See it if you're interested in a female playwright's complicated view of female relationships. It's not clearly feminist but is thought-provoking.
Don't see it if a play about unpleasant characters will make you uncomfortable. You are stuck in the characters' tense, irrational world of petty meanness.
See it if You're looking for good ensemble acting and a look at a period of history of spinster school marms who vent their frustrations on each other
Don't see it if Looking for light and upbeat. A bit dated and a grim look at women who don't have men
Critic Reviews (23)
"Smart, insightful, even sympathetic, Ellis' tight work is beautifully realized in the current revival. That's thanks to a stellar ensemble cast, who clearly delineates the sensibilities and sorrows of each teacher, and the Mint Theater, which is to be applauded for staging neglected gems. It's scored a winner in 'Women Without Men'...[it] bristles with emotional ferocity, as director Jenn Thompson calibrates the tension with precision."
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"It’s difficult to understand how this fine ensemble piece managed to be ignored by American managements until now...Here is a play written in the 1930s that resonates today even though its circumstances are tightly wrapped in the mores of its time...Not since Claire Boothe Luce’s 'The Women' have there been such juicy roles for women of all shapes, sizes, and ages, so three cheers for Mint Theater Company!"
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"Hazel Ellis has masterfully captured human nature and the petty grievances that can so often prevent us from real connection. Thankfully, director Jenn Thompson understands them, too. She has assembled a whip-smart and talented cast that knows how to deliver the goods; goods that might have been delivered years ago, but which the Mint Theater is now reviving with vitality and zest."
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"Director Jenn Thompson has crafted a magnificently sensitive and honest production. Her artful and intelligent hand is evident in the exquisite performances, excruciatingly brilliant tension development and the overall creation of unforgettable moments of human frailty. The entire piece galloped at an elegant pace and kept me entranced throughout...I loved every minute of this volatile, heart breaking, exasperating, poignant and lucent production."
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"Ellis's writing is subtle and smart, and she knows that humans are not heroes or villains but fallible and needy. As she vividly delineates the way that need shrinks people's souls, she is sometimes, perhaps, overly bleak...The production at The Mint is up to the usual high standards. Jenn Thompson provides smooth direction, and the cast is strong."
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“This richly characterized and surprising play by a pioneering Irish woman playwright tells us that — women without men are a very sad lot! It’s a fine play though…Thanks to the Mint Theater for producing this fine and little known play, and introducing us to the paradoxes in this work by a successful pioneer woman playwright...It’s not just 'Who knew?' when one sees a superb production of little known works from the past produced by the Mint – it’s ‘Thank Heavens we know now’!”
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"A wonderful revival of the long lost play...An excellent production...This production of Hazel Ellis’s 'Women Without Men' clearly deserves a place in that panoply of Mint successes...Suffice it to say that the entire production is first-rate, in no small measure due to its first-rate cast... If there is a special place in Heaven reserved for women who work so well together to provide us all with such a fine theatrical experience, these women can all start adjusting their wings."
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