Life x3 NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (66)
See it if you are willing to examine social/marital dynamics from several different viewpoints
Don't see it if you prefer linear, predictable plays
See it if Interesting variations on a dinner satire where one character's degree of confidence shifts the behavior of the other characters. Well acted
Don't see it if You don't enjoy observing intricate relationship dynamics. People with thicker/thinner skin sniping at each other.
See it if you dream up withering comebacks to slights that happened 4 days ago. This play of parallel universes is your revenge fantasy.
Don't see it if you’re a nice person who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt; you expect totally credible dinner party dialog/behavior. Read more
See it if You enjoy plays about couple dynamics & power plays between frenemies. You enjoy variations on a theme. You like plays in translation.
Don't see it if You don't like plays about marriage and/or friendships. You prefer a single plot & continuous story. You prefer longer, drawn out plays.
See it if you are interested in dysfunctional relationships; you are interested in how slight differences in attitude create major differences
Don't see it if you want a lot of action; you don't enjoy plays about relationships
See it if You like rapid-fire dialogue a la Pinter, intense relationship dramas, and sets designed to perfectly fit small space.
Don't see it if You hate on-stage arguments fueled by alcohol.
See it if This is a theatrical triptych. Three views of a disastrous dinner party and the impact of small quotidian decisions in the characters lives
Don't see it if You prefer plot driven plays. This is a play that examines small events emanating from the worst dinner party ever x 3.
See it if you like plays with a nasty bite. This is drawing-room comedy on a collision course with "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Don't see it if you would get bored by constant dialogue with little physical movement. All the movement is in the parry and thrust of the conversation. Read more
Critic Reviews (8)
"Three chances to experience how what is wrong could go right, and three more reasons why audiences are bound to love this show...With a stellar cast that can navigate the paths of essentially three characters each with obvious ease, this production carefully presents nuances in character and circumstance...This cast is adept and skillful in their navigation of human emotions, and how realistically they can be skewed in reality."
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"'Life X 3' was first seen in 2003 at the Circle in the Square. This revival is tauter and funnier. Perhaps this smaller venue refracts the play in a different way, but these four actors are more convincingly real, not to mention greater pains in the butt. As the title implies, they get three chances to reveal-and revel in-their egos and idiosyncrasies, each succeeding part bringing out both nuances and bombshells."
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"A tumultuous evening presented three different ways, inviting reflection on the need for balance...The four cast members are an immensely versatile bunch. Director Jerry Heymann has chosen to use British accents, giving the talented actors many chances to take umbrage and wax sardonic...Composer Janet Bentley has provided ethereal, jazzy music which, at times, veers off in a direction dictated by the mathematical constant 'e.'"
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“Cast members...tear into their roles with a vengeance, and that breathes life into one of Reza’s lesser works...The ‘x 3’...refers to getting three different versions of a gathering...Reza has written a few funny lines, but the marital conflicts and the interplay between the couples mainly provide the humor. Although things can at moments become somewhat tedious...It is enjoyable watching the four excellent actors make the most of their roles.”
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"The play appears to hedge its bets, neither making a specific point nor committing to characters while each gets a tad more civilized...Leah Curney (Ines) is the standout here. Manifesting nerves and the results of excess alcohol, authenticity rules. James Patrick Nelson needs to bone up on the script. Director Jerry Heymann could differentiate his characters more beyond what they imbibe. Use of staging area, small business, and pacing are good."
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"The excellent production is a welcome, if unusual, revival by the New Light Theater Project, which usually presents new plays...The core of the characters in the following two plays remains the same, with subtle variations under Jerry Heymann’s nuanced direction...Though 'Life x 3' seems to be about a playwright testing her quiver full of artistic tricks, they disguise a work that has more depth than is immediately apparent."
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"Lacks the focus and purpose that permits each zinger to further escalate the action into childish behavior, and the incoherency of New Light Theater Project’s production seems to take out all the fun...It’s mostly snide without substance...Director Jerry Heymann follows Reza’s instruction of setting somewhat predictably, and doesn’t quite unite the cast under the game Reza is getting at. "
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“We see three versions of the same evening play out...The character interactions are fascinating to watch as their personalities bounce off of each other, manifesting in different ways depending on the external factors of the night. The cast is uniformly strong...Each version of the night leaves us at the edge of our seats, wondering how and if everything will fall apart...A thrilling way to spend an evening.”
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