Latter Days NYC Reviews and Tickets

51%

(28 Reviews)

Positive

25%

Mixed

43%

Negative

32%

Members say

Slow, Confusing, Disappointing, Excruciating, Great acting

About the Show

Dutch Kills Theater presents the world premiere of a drama about a demented (or possibly visionary) "King" and his sole loyal subject, awaiting the apocalypse together.

In a forgotten basement beneath the streets of some godforsaken metropolis, a self-described King of Heaven and his long-suffering servant Dead Bill are waiting for the world to end. For 11 years they have shared, with no one but each other, the strange rituals of their secret faith in the coming rapture. Now, at last, the apocalypse is at hand. And when the time comes, nothing will be the same.

Member Reviews (28)

Disappointing, Indulgent, Slow, It did make me think about trump--unfortunately.

See it if Video gamer style mythmaking of the most banal kind is your thing.

Don't see it if A cheesy bargain basement knockoff of a Beckett type theater of the absurd play would send you running for the exit.

Entertaining, Great acting, Quirky, Hilarious

See it if you enjoy intimate settings with two captivating actors who carry the show start to finish.

Don't see it if you want a profound show and a clear ending.

Clever, Ambitious, Thought-provoking

See it if you are a skeptic, enjoy willing suspension of disbelief in order to think, are okay with a slow pace

Don't see it if you are not patient for slow pacing, are easily religiously offended, or are looking for something light.

During previews

Excruciating, Slow, Cliched, Insipid, Banal

See it if The acting was good but I can hardly recommend such a vile piece of work just to see it well acted.

Don't see it if period...just don't see it.

During previews

Excruciating, Indulgent, Confusing, Slow, Vulgar

See it if You know someone involved w/ the production. You think a man ton a toilet is high art.

Don't see it if You value good acting & playwriting. You're not in the show's inner circle-several unfunny bits got big laughs from a few in audience.

During previews

Insipid

See it if Your idea of fun is watching an overweight man sit on a toilet seat for 62 minutes and occasionally relieve himself.

Don't see it if You want to avoid an extremely slow paced & totally pointless show. I think this is the worst show I have ever seen.

During previews

Better than i thought

See it if you want to see a nice little small show in a tiny space. Everything about the show is ok but not great. The younger actor does a nice job

Don't see it if you need something elaborate. This is blackbox and blackbox only.

During previews

Alternates between fascinating and repelling, Gorgeous language delivering a predicatable message, Great acting

See it if The biblical, Shakespearean, densely poetic language was very compelling, but I saw the end coming within the first 5 mins.

Don't see it if Thank goodness the bodily fluids only looked realistic vs smelling so, because I was in the front row and that was bad enough. Read more

Critic Reviews (4)

"Ben Beckley's 'Latter Days' feels like an early draft of a Samuel Beckett play...It's not easy to avoid the masters when you're trying to craft something short and sharp...'Latter Days' is well performed, but Beckley's play is too much of-a-piece with the works it emulates—at its worst, it can feel derivative...The garbage-royalty motif is reminiscent of Alfred Jarry's 'Ubu Roi,' and we've seen these little rituals and abuses between Beckett's all-too-similar Hamm and Clov."
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"An absurdist play that is strong on form but less so on substance…There is no faulting the excellent performances of the two actors, or of Jess Chayes's direction...Yet 'Latter Days' feels sketchy, like an academic exercise in dramatic writing that combines Elizabethan phrasing with the theatrically absurd planes of existence of Beckett and Ionesco. There simply isn't enough context to sustain what is essentially an allegorical tale about the fanatically obsessed leading the gullible."
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“The trademark Beckettian rhythm and language is at play here, eliciting the same kind of laughter that feels wrong when it happens. Chayes directs and her simplicity and precision shines…It’s far too reminiscent of the Beckett world without being different enough to warrant its necessity. Although its themes of grand delusion and co-dependent power relationships couldn’t feel truer.”
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“An inventive take on the apocalyptic genre…It takes a bit of time to get into this play, but once you accept its given circumstances, the drama between the two men is utterly gripping…’Latter Days’ would never succeed without an immensely talented and committed pair of performers, and there is no doubt that Tony Torn's fragile dignity and Will Dagger's utter earnestness sell the piece entirely. But what really makes this production stand out is its impeccable design.”
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