"Jan Maxwell, who recently told Playbill that she was retiring from the stage, is providing audiences with a heartbreaking display of what they’ll be missing when she’s gone. I’d almost call her work in this first-rate production, the performance of her career...you had better make haste to observe this study of what one character describes “as a meteor cleaving her way through dark places” before it vanishes from sight."
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"Maxwell’s giving a typically intense performance. The show is worth catching whether it’s her last rodeo or not...Barker's play is accessible and never less than compelling. Its dry dark humor helps...Richard Romagnoli’s solid production doesn’t compromise Barker’s ambiguities."
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"Fortunately for director Richard Romagnoli, whose leading lady dwarfs the rest of his lackluster company, Barker writes Galactia as a mythically imposing figure, swallowing up everything that impedes her path to truth and creative fulfillment...The result is a thought-provoking and surprisingly accessible exploration of the line between art and artist, the divide between artist and audience, and the everlasting moral battle between personal integrity and, the art of making art."
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"If the current revival of Howard Barker's 'Scenes From An Execution' is Jan Maxwell's stage acting swan song, she is certainly going out spectacularly...Director Romagnoli's intimate production features a fine ensemble, with visuals that nicely serve the darkly-humored text."
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"An absolutely gripping and often surprisingly funny evening of over-the-top theater...Richard Romagnoli directs all of this mayhem with complete assuredness, and while Ms. Maxwell stands at the center, the rest of the cast is equally up to the intellectual lunacy that prevails. And for a small production of a major play, much consideration has been given to the lighting design and the sound design. With 'Scenes from an Execution,' PTP/NYC absolutely lives up to its reputation for providing exciting and provocative theater."
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"Under Richard Romagnoli’s meticulous direction, the ensemble cast of this remarkably enduring and ever relevant play deliver captivating and riveting performances...Mr. Barker revels in exploring the mythos of womankind and his retellings of stories about powerful women are replete with delicious moral ambiguity and resounding shadows."
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"It is the emotional, superb performance by Jan Maxwell, whose last role makes this a tragedy. This is acting at it’s very best and should not be missed...Richard Romagnoli directs this production with a subtle fierceness that pierces the idea of being caged...This is a must see!"
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"'Scenes from an Execution' is Barker at his finest. The narrative is clear. The story is sensational. And no matter when it’s presented, 'Scenes from an Execution' is wonderfully relevant. Director Richard Romagnoli tells the story simply and allows Barker’s stimulating language take center stage...'Scenes from an Execution' is poignant as ever."
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