Part of Theater for the New City's 2017 Dream Up Festival: A small cast uses magic tricks and theater techniques to unravel the everyday performance of femininity. More…
'The Woman, Illusion' is a playful, wicked gallery of ways to be a woman, from a dressing table to the battlefields of Queen Elizabeth I. Being the right woman at the right time—wife or employee, actor or leader—means performing a constant disappearing act on the parts of yourself that don't fit. The show culminates in a shared experience for audience and cast.
See it if A fun evening that smoothly & subtly examines the unconscious performance of femininity by women, their disappearance into everyday roles.
Don't see it if You don't like actual magic tricks, sleight of hand or subtly feminist shows.
Also The setup is clever, simple & as deceptive as the sleights-of-hand won... Read more Read less
See it if You want to see a show with magic tricks with audience participation (I did!) that empowers women.
Don't see it if You don't like the use of card tricks and illusions
See it if you like magic shows that are broken up by small vignettes. For a show called The Woman illusion it was the men who stole the show. Magic!
Don't see it if you don't like magic, and want a well a play that flows. I looked forward to the magic breaks between takes more than the play.
Also The main male actor was very talented and animated. The vignettes didn... Read more Read less
See it if Thoughtful ideas about how women present themselves to the world intrigue you, you like magic, you're open-minded about what theater can be
Don't see it if You only like plays with linear plots, you think about women only in terms of feminist polemics, you prefer not to think about feminism
Also This very clever show starts with a magician doing real (and amazing) ... Read more Read less
See it if You want to see a cool magic show interspersed with disconnected scenes that aren't as self-aware as they want to be
Don't see it if You want a thoughtful play that actually considers intersectionality instead of just nodding at it
See it if you like magic. The show is saved by the talented magician who comes out in between vignettes.
Don't see it if you expect an absorbing theater
See it if you enjoy being entertained and mystified. I loved the magic tricks performed between the vignettes!
Don't see it if dislike magic, want something that flows, want a cohesive story