Pity in History NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (39)
See it if You want to see a production whose process is more interesting than its message
Don't see it if You are looking for something light
See it if an intellectualized take on what conditioning and propaganda can do to a societys' way of thinking
Don't see it if forceful dialogue (not always discernible because of heavy accents) and not a cheerful play
See it if You just love wordy and multi-layered plays that steam roll to a conclusion.
Don't see it if You don't want to have to concentrate. This one is not easy to take. Read more
See it if if you like black comedy
Don't see it if you like musicals
See it if your a fan of British war history.
Don't see it if you are looking for a fast moving drama with interesting character development..
See it if You want to see a very raw and bare-bones type show
Don't see it if You want to see something that is polished and well thought out Read more
See it if You're interested in a script that draws a heavy allegory between two historical times other than our own
Don't see it if You're looking for something light, low-rhetoric, and action-heavy
See it if You want to see a play with tremendous mordant wit, performed by a sold ensemble with a brilliantly effortless central performance.
Don't see it if You're looking for light entertainment.
Critic Reviews (17)
"A political satire with the feel of a parable...This world premiere production transplants the text into a modern-feeling ethos. Gaukroger (an affecting and funny turn by Steven Dykes), his apprentice, Pool (the excellent Matt Ball), and a unit of soldiers take up residence in a cathedral...The resonances here are sprawling and work as well for the Thatcherite regime originally in its crosshairs as it does for today's zealous administrations both in Barker's native England and in the States.”
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“Interesting and smart…Remarkably funny and challenging…The artist, Gaukroger, is beautifully played with humor and depth by Dykes…Using humor and sincerity, Barker as seen through the sharp directorial eyes of Romagnoli, reminds us of the brutality generated by ideological postures and politics. And although there are moments of unclear intentions, the piece has staying power. It will float through our thoughts and dive deep into our emotional consciousness.”
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"Raises rich and enduring questions...Under Romagnoli’s astute direction, the Potomac Theatre Project/NYC has reimagined Barker’s television play for the live stage with considerable success...The cast is uniformly excellent as is the overall staging of this important play. Each cast member delivers an authentic performance that exponentially strengthens the brilliant work of this ensemble cast."
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“Fluidly woven into a tapestry of extremism, impotence, defense, and survival, the play’s multiple factions are as familiar today as they are in context. The company is terrific. Of special note: Steven Dykes’s Gaukroger is easygoing, honest, practical and proud…We observe a whole person. As Murgatroyd, Jonathan Tindle persuasively delivers humor, poignancy, fear, feistiness, and anger trippingly off an unleashed tongue…Director Richard Romagnoli viscerally realizes this heady play.”
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“Thought-provoking and well-acted, if confusing at times…Rather unconvincingly repositioned into the present day, but it still hits home with a strong multipart message…In Steven Dykes’s magnetically compelling portrayal, Gaukroger the mason is at once a bossy, money-hungry blowhard and the humane soft center of the hard and bloody nut in which he and his apprentice, Pool find themselves…A polished, powerful, challenging piece of art.”
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"A deeply thought-provoking play...These actions are tightly composed under Richard Romagnoli’s precise and effective direction which highlights Barker’s poignant and poetic language. Although Murgatroyd and Gaukroger both offer a voice of reason in the midst of death and destruction, they don’t have straightforward answers. Instead they have smart and well-phrased questions, and we hope someone will come out in one piece to answer them."
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"Howard Barker’s 1985 teleplay is a striking revelation, on stage for the first time thanks to Potomac Theatre Project. Rife with contradictions and thick with symbolic power, the 65-minute piece is an electric exchange of ideas...The use of the soldiers as a chorus is astonishing and effective. It is rare to see space and light sculpted so boldy with human bodies...We are witnessing a practiced hand executing the vision of one of the company’s signature playwrights...It’s a shot of adrenaline."
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"There are more ideas chewed up and invigoratingly spit out in five minutes of Howard Barker’s 65-minute 'Pity in History' than in many plays of greater length...The meaty flavor of his writing is so intense, and his point-of-view shifts so seamless, that our expected reactions to what his characters say are constantly being thwarted, waylaid, even mocked...'Pity in History' has both the thrill of destruction and the nourishment of creation."
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