See it if you have a strong reaction to parental relationships. This is a look at dementia through the eyes of the victim unlike any I've ever seen.
Don't see it if you're going alone and aren't prepared to be moved. Very stark and tugs at the heartstrings.
See it if You like extraordinary drama and acting.
Don't see it if You will be upset by the portrayal of a man with dementia.
See it if you like a challenging drama told from a unique point of view. Frank Langella's performance is stunning and heart wrenching.
Don't see it if you want something light and fluffy
See it if ...you enjoy thought provoking theater that may confuse you at first. It's worth it. ...you enjoy getting into a character's head.
Don't see it if ...you don't like drama. ...you prefer linear pieces.
See it if you are seeking an excellent play
Don't see it if you don't enjoy plays
See it if You are interested in a touching and insightful play about dementia, aging, and the choices and limits of caregiving.
Don't see it if The topic is too sensitive for you, or you will be thrown off by the writer's tricks to make the audience feel the protagonist's confusion.
See it if You want to experience the feelings of confusion and fear that dementia and aging bring. Frank Langella's performance should not be missed.
Don't see it if You do not want to confront the reality of dementia and aging and you are ok with missing a virtuoso performance.
See it if You want to see (hopefully) Tony performance. Frank is truly amazing he deserves the Tony. Thought provoking, insight into dimentia.
Don't see it if Don't want to see a deep, dark yet entertaining play about dimentia or Alzheimer's. Don't care about Tony's. One of the best performances
"Florian Zeller’s gimmicky disease play about aging and dementia...That the one dimension is inhabited so robustly by Frank Langella is the sole element elevating the piece above the desolately routine. But his presence is not nearly enough to overcome the playwright’s overly obvious conceits...As a demonstration of how Alzheimer’s runs its course, Hughes’s production has some merit...However, 'The Father' is mundane."
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"A mediocre productions that the star single-handedly saves from the recycling bin...Langella is fairly restrained. This makes his performance all the more effective as we watch his character’s descent into dementia—from his point of view. Admittedly this is clever writing, but it also feels slick and at times borderline gimmicky. Nor does the rest of the cast give Langella the support he deserves."
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"A jarring and intense drama that is told from the perspective of an 80-year-old man suffering from severe dementia...Doug Hughes’ focused production is built around an all-out, highly emotional performance from Langella that brings to mind King Lear’s extreme fall from security into chaos...'The Father' is not an enjoyable play by any stretch of the imagination. It leaves you feeling uncomfortable, roughed up and exposed. But it is a dramatically effective and culturally important one."
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"At 78, Langella not only holds the stage he owns it. And when you’re not hanging on his every line and gesture, you may stop for a moment to try and study how he does it. But don't bother because his performances are seamless and when he slips into a role, the actor evaporates leaving no trace...Under Doug Hughes taut direction, the emotional toll builds to a devastating conclusion."
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"It's a smart, tricky, and ultimately heartbreaking look at the bewildering disorientation caused by aging, memory, and identity loss...While he has a tendency to veer into Master Thespian territory, Langella is quite extraordinary when he drops these histrionics to burrow into André's fragmented world...The rest of the cast is only adequate...Director Doug Hughes should shoulder most of the blame for the deficiencies in the performances, but they are also partly caused by the script."
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"Zeller has found a simple yet stunning way of putting us in André's position as his ability to sort the imagined from the actual crumbles at a headlong pace. Langella's intensively detailed, utterly unsparing performance captures every hairpin turn of emotion...The seemingly self-assured older man is, step-by-step, reduced to the status of an elderly infant, in need of being held...This is a monumental performance, a modern Lear, a lion in winter no longer sure whom he is raging at, or why."
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"Langella scales sweeping heights of magnetic stolidity and the depths of baby-like innocence, frequently at or near the same time...For how much it gets right about André, and for the vivid palette of possibilities it gives its director, it has no concrete existence of its own outside its attempts to drown you in a sea of befuddlement. Its story is adequate, but hardly captivating...There's very little here that hasn't been explored more fully in other places."
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“Langella turns in a virtuoso performance. You may be confused, you may be shocked, you may disturbed, but you won’t be bored for a moment...In the hands of a consummate artist like Langella, the play is terrifying...Although the rest of the cast of six have nothing as momentous as Langella’s role, they acquit themselves well...Director Doug Hughes has piloted the play with a sure hand, keeping everything as minimalist as the text which resembles Pinter crossed with Ionesco.”
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