Terminus

See it if you like your theater to be boldly theatrical & deal with life-&-death material, or want to see the performance of the year.

Don't see it if you favor polite, tidy theater that dots its I's, crosses its T's & is sure to deliver a little uplift before the lights go out.

Also I don’t understand the reviews for “Terminus”. Gabriel Jason Dean’s ambitious script stages 2 different realms in a single space, poor, southern, domestic. The plot follows a 17-year-old mixed-race boy who lives with his white grandma who is experiencing profound dementia, over a period of a few days, with visits from a white, drug runner dad & a girl of color who’s passing through town. Because grandma is losing it, a 2nd realm invades: figures from her past tumble out of ovens & refrigerators to stage conflicting versions of that past, often amid unfolding current events. Why complain about the ensuing tumult? The play is fully lucid in presenting the mind’s confusion & final (partial) clarity. Deirdre O’Connell’s grandma is the most incandescent acting I’ve seen in years. She dazzled me when I first saw her perform in Baltimore in 1975. That she still puts her total self on the line, night after night, for our elucidation, is a profound act of love for which I remain grateful.... Read more Read less

See it if you love Dierdre O'Connell.She is perfection in a tough role.Play itself can't match her talent.She is wasted in this meandering mishmash

Don't see it if you want a coherent, well told story.Acting is uneven, but O'Connell, Butler, & Hostetler are terrific.Play drags in places.Doesn't satisfy.

See it if you like good acting - a great performance from Deirdre O’Connell.

Don't see it if you expect the other characters to be as well written as O'Connell's.

See it if you are willing to endure a tiresome and derivative show to see one great performance.

Don't see it if you've had enough Southern gothic to last a lifetime.

See it if a fan of O'Connell's fierce commitment; you want a theatrical realization of Faulkner's admonition"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past."

Don't see it if Southern Gothic doesn't agree with you; some scenes are repetitive and the ensemble is uneven

Also Dierdre O'Connell is the main reason to see this new play from the Monk Parrots company: her unsparing performance as a guilt-ridden, dementia-addled survivor of the Jim Crow South illuminates the sometimes turgid script and manages to lift the action at times to the realm of tragedy. Tiberghien's staging is effective in overlapping past with present, though sometimes hampered by the long, narrow performance space of NYTW Next Door. Playwright Brown has O'Neill-sized ambition: this play is one of a 7-play cycle chronicling the disappearance of a small fictional mill town at the end of the 20th century. If O'Connell can be in the other plays as well, I'm there!... Read more Read less

See it if you want to emotionally jump into intricate family drama with a sweeping historical focus and a large cast of characters and relationships

Don't see it if You want a linear approach that focuses on the here and now or you are not intrigued by some level of ambiguity in terms of unfolding events

Also It is amazing how much is able to be accomplished dramatically in a short period of time with limited theatrical resources that are creatively utilized. Deirdre O'Connell is the center of the committed cast and she is always excellent - I am not sure she does anything new here but what she does is very effective. For me, the core issue that I could not completely get past was that the story - and it is a dense plot that unfolds unevenly over a long period of time - is possible but not plausible. There were crucial elements that needed to be explained (how/why did Eller come to fall for the man she did given her past and where she came from?). The theater of realism approach lost some credibility for me due to the lack of coherence in the evolving narrative. I understand the piece is in part autobiographical and I don't question that it is all possible but when a narrative is as unlikely as this is, you need to be shown how it makes sense so that you are convinced.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see something timely with a message that is not spoonfed!

Don't see it if you are just looking for a light evening at the theatre.

See it if Tough personal reckoning with family secrets is well, if sometimes confusingly done. A few actors speak indistinctly & performance space is

Don't see it if awkward so get a center seat, but much of the action is riveting. Could use a little trimming but unusual & honest.