The Wolves
82

The Wolves NYC Reviews and Tickets

82%
(314 Ratings)
Positive
91%
Mixed
8%
Negative
1%
Members say
Great acting, Absorbing, Clever, Great staging, Great writing

About the Show

After two hit runs at Playwrights Realm, Lincoln Center Theater presents an encore engagement of Sarah DeLappe's drama about a suburban girls soccer team.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (314)

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55 Reviews | 10 Followers
100
Enchanting, Absorbing, Ambitious, Dizzying, Great acting

See it if you like feminism, strong women, strong dialogue, and innovative storytelling

Don't see it if you have bad taste or hate women

71 Reviews | 9 Followers
96
Absorbing, Funny, Great acting, Great staging, Great writing

See it if you're looking for something similar to The Flick (great ensemble, incredible writing with staging to match).

Don't see it if you can't stand silence or pauses.

125 Reviews | 36 Followers
95
Great writing, Great staging, Masterful, Profound, Riveting

See it if You enjoy plays about the human experience and realism, especially about women and girls issues. All the performances and characters excel

Don't see it if You don’t care about what it’s like to grow up being a woman.

262 Reviews | 57 Followers
95
Ambitious, Clever, Intense, Refreshing, Profound

See it if you want an insight into the world of teenagers today, team sports or all the complications that both provide.

Don't see it if you blush at adult language or talk about body functions and sex or aren't interested in what teenage girls are like today.

52 Reviews | 5 Followers
95
Great writing, Great acting, Must see, Profound, Riveting

See it if you are looking for a deceptively well-crafted and devastating examination of high school girlhood through indoor soccer. A must see!

Don't see it if you cannot appreciate plays in a modern vernacular or about ordinary subjects.

399 Reviews | 205 Followers
94
Absorbing, Entertaining, Great writing, Intelligent, Profound

See it if Original topic. Very true to how teenage girls are, without the typical cliches. Several nice performances. Well staged.

Don't see it if Some people might find the cross-talk hard to understand.

492 Reviews | 120 Followers
93
Intense, Great staging, Great writing, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You want to see something on a stage that resembles actual life and the people who inhabit it without artifice. Unapologetically brutal.

Don't see it if You are not interested in plays that do not follow a typical narrative arc. You are not ready for something truly heavy. Read more

68 Reviews | 6 Followers
93
Absorbing, Clever, Intelligent

See it if You like smart, dialogue, thoughtful writing and clever staging and really good acting.

Don't see it if Quick dialog, a female cast

Critic Reviews (40)

The New York Times
November 21st, 2017

"Some of the most exciting and affecting ensemble work on a New York stage...One of the greatest achievements is that it doesn’t allow for so-called breakout performances. It’s not that DeLappe’s characters are absorbed into a bloblike collective...But she and Neugebauer have created a remarkably level playing field for a team of disparate personalities who give fresh credence to the idea that onstage, in union there is strength."
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Time Out New York
November 20th, 2017

"'The Wolves' asks us to listen more carefully, and to pay attention. As the team members differentiate themselves from the pack, the play teases out larger questions hidden amid its keen naturalism...DeLappe takes all of them seriously. Her hopeful, respectful play is an implicit reproach to those who worry or complain about kids today. Seeing 'The Wolves' for a second time, I picked up on a number of things I had missed the first time. The soccer here is smart as hell."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
November 20th, 2017

"A crack team of outstanding young actresses...Neugebauer’s touch is both delicate and decisive. She doesn’t dress plays up or weight them down with excess conceptual baggage...As a piece of writing, it’s undeniably strong, and also noticeably crafted—but there’s also something about its arc that feels too neatly calibrated to be truly astonishing...The nine young women who prowl the practice pitch in 'The Wolves' take a good play and go a long way towards making it a great one."
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New York Daily News
November 20th, 2017

"Smart, nimble and told through an intriguing out-of-the-box approach, the play is a gripping slice of fly-on-the-stadium-wall realism...There’s more crosstalk and interruptions than a 'Real Housewives' reunion. And, yeah, that’s exactly how people talk in groups...The play is skillfully directed by Lila Neugebauer and deftly acted by a tightknit ensemble of 10...Add me to the pack of admirers for this terrific play."
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The Hollywood Reporter
November 20th, 2017

"A dizzying whirl of attitude, anxiety and adolescent hormonal volatility practically pings off the walls...The subtlety of the craftsmanship, the assurance of tone and the thematic incisiveness are remarkable, astonishingly so for a first work...DeLappe has a knack for making her artfulness appear almost accidental. Her dialogue has the unwritten sound of real conversation...This is one of the most striking playwriting debuts in recent memory, and absolutely not to be missed."
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Entertainment Weekly
November 20th, 2017

"'The Wolves’ most impressive feat is its subtlety: DeLappe’s script is empty in all the right places, as the audience pieces together aspects of the characters’ lives from clues given...This is also a testament to both Neugebauer’s direction and the cast’s innate understanding of their characters...A play that takes teenage girls seriously, never leaning into easy parody, but instead elevating their struggles and successes into an unforgettable, deeply moving work of drama."
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Theatermania
November 20th, 2017

"An amazing debut play...Neugebauer directs and choreographs the play with mesmerizing syncopation...The text is so real that it's almost as if DeLappe transcribed real conversations between teenage girls; the performances are so authentic that it almost feels like we're eavesdropping on these ritualistic moments of young adulthood. For this engagement, Neugebauer and her excellent company have managed to clarify the material even further...One of the best plays of the decade."
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BroadwayWorld
November 26th, 2017

“An exceptional ensemble…The work of director Lila Neugebauer achieves a remarkable naturalism, even while the actors are choreographed into set routines and speaking their overlapping lines while allowing for the more important points to surface above the clamor. As DeLappe's debut piece, ‘The Wolves’ introduces a playwright with a fine ear for authentic dialogue who can cleverly structure a play non-traditionally.”
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