The Workshop NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (42)
See it if you love austin pendelton like i do
Don't see it if if a rather long piece that could have been a bit shorter bothers you - but acting was great
See it if You want to see a compelling, tender, and real story told by a master actor and his ensemble.
Don't see it if You can't sit for 2 1/2 hours in a tiny space, virtually on top of the actors. Read more
See it if You want to see wonderful acting. Plot is a Master's Playwrighting Workshop. Love Austin Pendleton. Very funny, moving, exciting. See it!
Don't see it if You hate small venues and intimate setting.
See it if you love theater and what makes theater.. Austin Pendleton is superb. The setting is great. It is perfect for anyone who wants to write .. .
Don't see it if Only about 40 seats Only two more weeks to the run.
See it if You enjoy witty dialogue laced with references to famous playwrights in an intimate setting.
Don't see it if Prefer elaborate staging with music/dancing.
See it if you won't want to miss A. Pendleton's superb performance as a Eugene O"Neill coulda-been in a play that should see many future productions.
Don't see it if you're not inclined to like an "insider's" take on playwriting or art-making generally.
See it if you luurrrrrrve theater and well written, well-crafted plays. Loved the insider jokes, the sarcasm, the sadness and the great performances.
Don't see it if you don't have strong opinions of NYT theater critics - really don't.
See it if You're up for an intense character study about a college prof who is a hero or a villain to the students he helps or warps. You decide.
Don't see it if All talk but almost no physical action is not your idea of a satisfying evening of theater. I was mesmerized.
Critic Reviews (4)
“The dialogue is a succession of quick jabs and uppercuts, and references abound…At the same time, ‘The Workshop’ does not feel overly insidery…As an incisive and insightful tale of ambition and envy, inspiration and mediocrity, the show should resonate with a wide swath of theatergoers…The writing, bolstered by Mr. Pendleton’s poignant performance, transcends the chuckles as it depicts a man staring at the abyss of his failure.”
Read more
“You can tell Torrey Townsend has studied his craft…You can tell because the very idea of studying art fills him with both affection and revulsion…‘The Workshop's’ desultory portrait of their semester lasts two and a half hours, yet somehow rarely feels long. Townsend’s well-performed play is bracingly cynical…Adams’s intimate production tucks us close enough that we can smell the spilled coffee. The scorched odor of dying dreams, though, is the thing that keep us awake.”
Read more
“It’s the kind of raw, audacious evisceration that only someone who truly loves the messy, awful art of the stage could perform…This combustion of frustration and exhilaration makes for one hell of an evening of theater. Directed with a deft and unaffected hand by Adams and featuring a shattering central performance by Pendleton…‘The Workshop’ is a breathtaking study of an Ego…The uncomfortable brilliance of ‘The Workshop’ is that it won’t let us pat ourselves on the back.”
Read more
"Townsend’s bitingly funny demolition of writerly ambition...What elevates the material over drive-by satire is Townsend’s mixed love and disgust for stage dinosaurs like Stein...Townsend’s script could stand to lose 20 minutes...There are also minor false notes...But the intimate, tight-focus staging by director Adams is perfectly scaled...The young ensemble is appealing and precise in their character typing, and Pendleton does Pendleton—the elvish, shambolic shaman—surpassingly well."
Read more