Death of a Driver NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (56)
See it if A trueful and painful story regarding power, gender and change.
Don't see it if Not interested in Africa.
See it if You’d like to see great performance, great script, great chemistry by actors, a play deals with urbanizing Kenya, local politics, relations
Don't see it if You do not like small bare bone theater, not into serious topics, plays has many layers, politics bore you, profanity bothers you Read more
See it if You are concerned about cultural misunderstanding, the culture and politics of Kenya, economic development
Don't see it if You have no interest in the above and do not like two handers (although I am not so fond of them either but I really liked this show) Read more
See it if It showed how relationships can develop with people from different cultures.
Don't see it if Your looking for elaborate design sets
See it if Post-colonialism in Kenya (white female boss vs. local male employee); visceral acting esp. from the guy; informative post-show talk;
Don't see it if You’re expecting big production (this is a black box theatre with 70+ seats); you don’t care about the US and its ppl’s engagement overseas; Read more
See it if you have any interest in development in the Third World, including possible miscommunications and messy politics
Don't see it if you don't care what happens in Africa and other parts of the Third World; or if you think Americans are always right when in other countries
See it if You want to see two actors with great chemistry give a great performance in a small theater with simple yet effective staging.
Don't see it if You are not interested in political and social issues anyplace other than the U.S.A. You want to miss out on a great performance. Read more
See it if adroitly staged warmly acted intelligent drama. excellent antidote to mainstream pat solutions to international relations.
Don't see it if no pat solutions. no good guy vs bad guy. no sets (thank god) and you will have to stay involved to stay involved. Read more
Critic Reviews (5)
"But something about 'Death of a Driver' never quite catches fire. The story has gravity but lacks the sense of pity and terror that tragedy is famously supposed to invoke. Maybe it's partly due to the fact that the play is so brief, and that its short scenes sometimes take place years apart, creating a kind of herky-jerky quality. Maybe it's because the world of the play is relatively narrow-with the lack of supporting characters preventing us from getting a full sense of the Kenyan culture."
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"Top quality theater... Snider provides an intriguing and entertaining story that will keep you captivated and intrigued from start to finish...Both Baskin and Ssenjovu’s performances are strong, clear, natural and come from an authentic place...Direction by Kim T. Sharp seems to have allowed the actors to strip themselves of cumbersome paraphernalia and rely solely on their characterizations and dialogue which has been a refreshing choice that suits the play well."
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"There's little here that, with a few tweaks, would prevent the play from being set in any third-world country. The debate over the standards foreign companies must follow when dealing with crooked governments…is a universal one about which Snider offers little enlightenment…More promising, emotionally, at least, is his treatment of Sarah and Kennedy's friendship…It's a promise, though, that the play's talky, episodic, time-spanning, mostly actionless plot never quite fulfills."
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"Successful in delivering the words with a punch...Baskin and Ssenjovu have two things that are essential to making such a play work. First, both are fine actors...The second thing that makes this work is their chemistry...It isn’t just a case of two gifted actors performing their roles, but of two gifted actors performing as a team...One cannot help but leave the theatre impressed by the power of the show’s simplicity and by the surgically precise execution."
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"Snider takes care to establish two fully realized characters...When the lights go low for the jail scenes, so does, for the most part, the energy of the play, the intensity of the emotion, the crispness of the pacing. And yet 'Death of a Driver'—with its earnest, resolute characters and rich dialogue, its sharp, human wit, and the deft, physical manner in which Baskin and Ssenjovu navigate the external playing fields—often makes for a gripping, captivating night in the theater."
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