Remnant NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (18)
See it if you are open to new, multimedia theater with fragmented sets, actors and stories touched off by "remnant" memories collected. Interesting+.
Don't see it if you do not want to be exposed to verbal and visual blasts on the themes of war, death and time or if you want a linear production.
See it if non-linear, experimental, multimedia, explorations of death make you happy. Remarkable combination of quotations, singing, dancing etc.
Don't see it if you expect a play. No characters, no plot, not even permanent seating. Audience moves between 3 banks of seats at 30 minute intervals.
See it if you like innovative theater that plays with the boundaries of the form.
Don't see it if you do not like theater pieces that mix media or juxtapose a lot of small fragments. Read more
See it if You enjoy form-defying theatre mixed with performance art touching on life, death, and war.
Don't see it if You want something easy to digest. You dislike experimental performance. You crave narrative.
See it if You are interested in different modes of theatrical presentation. You like shows with a lot of vague and confusing emotion.
Don't see it if You're interested in seeing a story with a clear plot.
See it if You would like to experience a new theater space (and for me, walking distance) in Gowanus.
Don't see it if You are expecting what is promised. You get lots of technology, and some technique, lots of artistic folk yielding unmoving empty images.
See it if you want to see a fast moving challenging play. Unusually staged and interesting throughout.
Don't see it if you want to see a play with normal play structure. The absurdist nature of the play may turn some theatergoers off.
See it if you want to support a worthy company in large new digs. The ensemble-created work is wide-ranging & accomplished yet not all that impactful.
Don't see it if you want plot, 3 dimensional characters, dialogue or if you don’t want to listen to a show via headphones.
Critic Reviews (5)
“Perhaps ‘Remnant’ tries to tackle too much. Considering its philosophical aspirations, this work should be thought-provoking. Instead, the sheer sensory overload of its multidisciplinary approach to some degree becomes self-defeating, as one is bound to come away appreciating the ceaselessly inventive stagecraft more than meditating on the themes it presents...’Remnant’ is the kind of admirably overreaching failure that is willing to risk disaster for the sake of testing theatrical boundaries."
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“War, time and death are hauntingly explored in the eerie high-tech performance piece ‘Remnant’...The audience wears headsets as they experience the show while watching the action...Polendo’s swift staging richly realizes each individual chapter with resonance. Polendo coordinates the piece’s high caliber technical elements and engaging performances into a production that totally stimulates the senses and the mind...The cast is always fascinating.”
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"With poetical delicacy that doesn’t cloud the pain of grief and loss, 'Remnant' reminds us of the fragility of mental and physical bodies...Headphones not only allow for three parts of the show to unfold simultaneously, but also create an intimate form of communication...The architecture of this theatrical experience is flawlessly executed in both writing and production, with just the right degree of detachment allowing you to connect to the fragmented and distilled stories."
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"The company has done something incredible. Each artist brings different skills, experiences, and craft to the piece; they've come together in a way that is at different times cinematic, deeply theatrical, and striking to the senses...This piece is beautiful and emotional; I felt desperation, despair, guilt, terror, and wonder. For the parts of all of us that have experienced loss, this is an affirming meditation. I highly recommend seeing it!"
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"Only part documentary theater. It is also equal parts art installation, performance art, and technology-as-poetry...The show is inventive enough to feel like an adventure...At best revolves around some big themes rather than focusing on a specific subject, but often feels random. The use of the headphones and the distancing effect of the actors performing inside the dark boxes, are arguably at odds with some of the very aspects of live theater that have allowed it to endure."
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