Plenty NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (153)
See it if You want to watch some highly skilled actors do what they do best.
Don't see it if You don't like dated material presented through flash backs and flash forwards in a confusing way that reduces any emotional punch.
See it if Rachel Weisz and/or Corey Stoll fans (although, Emily Bergl is a stand-out). If you don't mind slow pieces that require thinking-audiences.
Don't see it if unwilling to be mentally-engaged with the work and, thus, can't keep up; dislike promiscuity or (brief) nudity; prefer musicals or comedies.
See it if you are empathetic to the Greatest Generation or if you love Rachel Weisz.
Don't see it if prefer lineal storytelling with dramatic character development. Read more
See it if you LOVE Rachel Weisz and this script. Weisz is in top condition.
Don't see it if you're not in the mood for a long evening. Clunky scene changes draw this production out far longer than they need to.
See it if You are willing for this "Plenty" to be not quite enough. Puzzling production with dull sets, uneven acting with an (overly)dynamic Weisz.
Don't see it if You don't appreciate lots of dialogue about Brit disillusionment after WWll, over-the-top mad scenes by Weisz and many flashbacks/forwards. Read more
See it if You like the leads
Don't see it if You don't know the play well; this production isn't a great introduction
See it if you're a Hare fan. I find he chooses a good premise, creates strong characters, but always gets a bit lost. Strong acting, great moving set.
Don't see it if you dislike insanity on stage. RW's performance was bumpy in those parts. Still my issues were mostly with the script. Solid production.
See it if You like Rachel Weisz. She was great.
Don't see it if Not much to really like. Read more
Critic Reviews (37)
"Hare’s writing is brilliant and director Leveaux shifts scenes smoothly between past and present and keeps the look spartan enough so that the performances always stand out sharply...Weisz gives a fabulous performance as she falls further and further into emotional trauma...The essence of Hare’s play is there with all its striking political undertow. And one should come away with new admiration for Weisz’s range of talent."
Read more
“The miscasting of the two leads has thrown the entire production off-balance…Weisz, under David Leveaux's listless direction, seemed unsure of how to play the role…Her Susan was far too confident at times, as though she could brush off annoyances with the flick of her hand…Corey Stoll was even less convincing as Susan's husband Raymond...The only one who truly hits the mark is Byron Jennings who plays Raymond's mentor."
Read more
“Wonderfully smart and deeply satisfying…Rachel Weisz is riveting — febrile, passionate, yet understated — in director David Leveaux’s blazingly confident production, which also stars the excellent Corey Stoll...Hare goes back and forth through decades of highs and lows in multiple times and places and moods...Weisz, with a heart-shaped face that captures both the lights and the very darks of Susan’s journey, surprises us just as much as Susan shocks her friends and loved ones."
Read more
"Like its lead character, the production fails to recapture the excitement of the moment of its creation. Partly there's a problem of pace. 'Plenty' is a play about a restless spirit, returning from war service, but David Leveaux's production is far too static to engage. And Rachel Weisz's laboured performance as former secret agent Susan Traherne is surprisingly inauthentic, full of phoney posturing and cold emotions."
Read more
"An absorbing Public Theater revival, directed by David Leveaux and featuring a powerful, edgy performance by Rachel Weisz...Weisz, petite and fragile-looking, vividly conveys Susan’s unpredictable willfulness, the unsettling combination of strength and turmoil that struggle inside her, often behind a self-assured façade...'Plenty' is an old-fashioned play of the best kind: solidly built, intelligent, thoughtful and provocative."
Read more
"Rachel Weisz here brings impressive emotional range to that central role and exudes an alluringly damaged presence throughout. The supporting male characters all seem intentionally stodgier...Under David Leveaux’s direction, an oppressive sense of torpor prevails...The play suffers, however, from Hare’s eagerness to turn Weisz’s character into an ideological mouthpiece and her childlessness into a heavy-handed metaphor."
Read more
"Weisz is mesmerizing...but the award-winning actress would have been better served by a more coherently directed and designed production...In Leveaux’s interpretation, I was particularly unsure what time or place it was...Weisz, at least, offers a consistent portrayal of a woman who is manic, manipulative and hollow. The character’s arc is devastating, but—and I mean this in the best possible way—her performance is like a slow-motion car crash from which you can’t avert your eyes."
Read more
“Far more than a vibrant assertion of the enduring value of Hare's work, this ‘Plenty’ is mostly just a handsomely designed bore. The first of the production's many problems is that Hare's play now just seems dated and even quaint in its concern...The other, arguably even bigger problem here is Weisz, who is overemphatic and histrionic almost from the start…’Plenty’ is a slog that only the most devoted (or perhaps just masochistic) Anglophiles should consider taking.”
Read more