Arlington
Closed 1h 30m
Arlington
68

Arlington NYC Reviews and Tickets

68%
(61 Ratings)
Positive
62%
Mixed
25%
Negative
13%
Members say
Confusing, Thought-provoking, Ambitious, Absorbing, Edgy

About the Show

St. Ann’s Warehouse presents an avant-garde, multi-media work by Tony winner Enda Walsh that conjures a strange and tender love story set in a terrifying world.

Read more Show less

Show-Score Member Reviews (61)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
56 Reviews | 28 Followers
94
Absorbing, Great staging, Profound, Riveting

See it if you're comfortable with the necessary quietness of a play that never pushes its point and can accept the magnitude of unknowns this play has

Don't see it if You're expecting a deeply political Orwellian dystopian play.

144 Reviews | 110 Followers
90
Great acting, Great staging, Profound, Edgy, Surreal

See it if Whooo this intense theatre work is as surreal as it gets. Part bag dream meets installation art you might find at the Whitney .

Don't see it if It you don't like avant guard Surreal theatre Read more

457 Reviews | 101 Followers
90
Haunting, must see, beautiful integration of sound, words, and movement

See it if you want to think. want to feel. want to see redemption and hope. To call it dystopian is accurate but ultimately untrue.

Don't see it if You want a straight narrative which requires no interpretation, you want a light comedy. Read more

154 Reviews | 31 Followers
89
Absorbing, Great acting, Profound

See it if you enjoy a unique theatre experience. I found this to be so absorbing with many interesting and creative ideas. used dance brilliantly.

Don't see it if you like to have everything explained and do not like ambiguity.

78 Reviews | 76 Followers
88
Edgy, Great staging, Thought-provoking, Intense, Absorbing

See it if you enjoy dystopian, thought-provoking theater that isn't afraid to confuse you a bit. The music and choreography is particarly fantastic.

Don't see it if you don't like theater that isn't sunshine and rainbows. This play takes a good hard look at society and depression, so take it in and think

84 Reviews | 10 Followers
85
Absorbing, Ambitious, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Refreshing

See it if you are willing to go out on a limb and witness the next theatre piece from the mind theatre poet Enda Walsh working with an ace team

Don't see it if you find dystopian fables not to your liking

197 Reviews | 74 Followers
81
Powerful, Dystopian, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Great acting

See it if you can be patient, letting the understanding build piece by piece. Walsh creates a stark image of the future; not a tale for the faint

Don't see it if you don't want to be disturbed. Themes include suicide, classism, torture, the reaction of humans to isolation, the failure of humanity

499 Reviews | 77 Followers
81
Ambitious, Absorbing, Edgy, Great staging, Intense

See it if you can let yourself go and appreciate how the staging and dialogue and acting come together to form something new and meaningful.

Don't see it if you prefer straight forward plots and don't like sci fi, particularly when it is about a dystopian future.

Critic Reviews (15)

The New York Times
May 10th, 2017

"A riveting fever dream of a play...Jolts the system through some of the most sophisticated visual and sound effects on display in New York...The subjects of these experiments are portrayed by Murphy, Doherty and O’Conor, in bravura performances...In the play’s final sequence, Walsh lets this entity explain itself...and I wish he hadn’t...As a whole, though, 'Arlington' is as creepy and compelling a vision of a blasted tomorrow as you’re going to find these days."
Read more

Time Out New York
May 11th, 2017

"While there is frequently beauty in Walsh's works, there's also self-indulgence...Walsh is looking in the mirror, and he can't tear himself away. And when he directs, as he does here, we're fully in an environment of his devising, which only has one criterion: what's coolest...Taken in images, 'Arlington' is quite beautiful...Beckett and Sartre are clearly influences here, but Walsh hasn't got their bite. He's a sentimentalist, and a cheeseball one."
Read more

Theatermania
May 9th, 2017

“A dystopian cocktail of theater, dance, and performance art that somehow still leaves you with the sweet taste of a love story…It's a testament to Walsh's talent for dialogue that we care so deeply about the connection between two strangers who have never met face-to-face...It's also a testament to Murphy and O'Conor's performances that they're able to nourish this subtle chemistry, as well as the charm and humor that Walsh embeds within such depraved circumstances."
Read more

Lighting & Sound America
May 12th, 2017

"A fairly straightforward drama, if an enigmatic one...I fear that such vaguely conceived dystopias tend to be surprisingly uninteresting...'Arlington' is never boring, however, largely because of the extraordinarily committed performances by its three-person cast...A lot happens but what it all means is never very clear. Walsh asks the audience to infer too much, and his intentions remain thoroughly cloudy."
Read more

Stage Buddy
May 16th, 2017

“Walsh binges himself on multiple loose theatrical forms and multi-media formats, all expertly done, but the clang made when they all come together can make more noise than sense. At times. At other times, the raw emotion is astonishing...Amidst hard times, the done thing in creativity is to visit dystopian isolation. There’s a sense that whatever Walsh is doing here is far less political than it is personal, giving him free rein."
Read more

Exeunt Magazine
May 12th, 2017

"It’s hard to describe without trying to impose an interpretation, or see hints of '1984,' but we do so at the risk of reductivism. Walsh provides scant narrative from which to draw concepts like character, plot, theme, setting or meaning...Walsh manages to tap into both our nagging daily anxieties and our most conspiratorial fears. 'Arlington' looks and feels like that dream where familiar settings suddenly become menacing, for no identifiable reason, and we start running like hell."
Read more

New York Theater
May 10th, 2017

“‘Arlington’ invests more attention on sensory stimulation than clarity or coherence…Walsh’s gift for dialogue shines through…For those theatergoers with a taste for avant-garde, multimedia performance art, ‘Arlington’ is well done. The two actors and the dancer are appealing and credible. The rock score is fast and furious. The design offers a near-constant barrage of in-your-face lighting changes, sound effects and projections.”
Read more

The Wrap
May 10th, 2017

“Walsh withholds so much information – the time, the place, the relationship of the imprisoned Isla and her interrogator — that chronic disorientation is the immediate and arguably appropriate response to ‘Arlington’…The story of ‘Arlington’ becomes clear, not because of Walsh’s powers as a storyteller. It’s that he borrows so much from other sources.”
Read more