Helen. NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (5)
See it if Helen's abt the struggle of a woman within traditional gender roles&is perf by a grt lead w the support of an equally talented diverse cast.
Don't see it if irreverent humor&dynamic physicality don't appeal 2u,nor u care x a charming woman o the Greek mythology reimagined in a 21st C unsatisfied* Read more
See it if Giving “Helen” her own agency back. Empowering marginalized bodies. SITI trained actors in work. Brilliant orchestration of words & moves.
Don't see it if You’re into pure entertainment or linear storytelling. “Cassandra” popped out late in show and confused me. Read more
See it if you enjoy a modern take on Greek mythology or smaller-scaled shows. Great acting and usage of minimal stage. "Did you lose a button?"
Don't see it if you prefer straight forward stories or less female empowerment pieces. There was a character intro at the end that left me a bit confused
See it if you are going for the actress playing Clytemnestra. She was wonderful.
Don't see it if you are expecting to see a boundary-pushing, well-written, quick piece that will make you empathize with Helen at all.
See it if physical theater, slapstick / familiar with Greek tragedies & Real Housewives of Attis / love contemporary feminist rewriting of classics
Don't see it if Not familiar with Greek tragedies, like realist plays with character arcs, don’t like physical comedy
Critic Reviews (5)
“The struggle here is between a woman’s self-determination and a man’s entitled possessiveness — a world-shaping dynamic rooted in traditional gender roles. This staging mutes that essential resonance, though, with a clownish Menelaus who needs to but never does evoke masculinity.”
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“While 'Helen.' spends a lot of time declaring its heroine’s liberation from those ancient prisons, it spends much less filling her out as a human being, rather than an agency-seeking missile...With Chaos as a narrator, you might well think you need to strap in and hold on tight, but though 'Helen.' incorporates plenty of anachronism and breezily un-Homeric banter, the play never really diverges that far from the larger contours of its source material.”
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“This is an all-female cast and female-themed presentation on womanhood where each in their time plays many parts gender be damned, save one. I’m curious, with the subject matter being so female-oriented and what the play is trying to discuss so female-focused, why they held to the save one. It weakened the piece. I get what the play is trying to say, I’m on board. The presentation drifts away on its own.”
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at its juiciest when presenting the story of this alluring figure from Ancient Greek mythology as if she is a twenty-first century housewife, with anachronisms that are both amusing and pointed…. But such moments are not frequent enough in this ninety-minute play… “Helen” is less Real Housewives of Sparta than Surreal Artists of the Avant-Garde.
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"Helen." is a new play by Caitlin George based on Greek myths that is being given a terrific production at La MaMa by SuperGeographics in association with La MaMa and the storied company En Garde Arts. The acting is top-notch, the direction excellent, and the lighting (by Jackie Fox and Connor Sale) is atmospheric and evocative.
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