To Protect the Poets (FringeNYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (22)
See it if you want to experience a good ensemble cast; relevant, serious subject matter; a heartfelt, sensitive love story; choices and reprecussions.
Don't see it if you're looking for light fare subject matter.
See it if you want to see a terrific ensemble in a contemporary tale of love, truth, justice, honor, and the difficult choices people make.
Don't see it if you're expecting a musical or a comedy (though this play has some funny moments)
See it if You are interested in an opposites-attract story with a secondary story of murder and morality. There is a fair amount of humor interspersed
Don't see it if You do not like political and moral discussions of police brutality in a black-and-white stance. The play isn't profound or explorative
See it if You enjoy poignant love stories & socially conscious discussion of ideas. A provoking drama with comedic moments. Fantastic cast!
Don't see it if You prefer musicals
See it if You want your opinions to sway over what is considered justice.
Don't see it if You are easily triggered.
See it if You want to see some solid acting from the more diverse members of the cast.
Don't see it if You feel that an inner-city teacher is an intelligent human being and that black, Hispanic and Asian actors should not be stereotyped.
See it if you are interested in a show that intensely explores the violence in our society and yet has many moments of laughter and charm.
Don't see it if You are looking for fluff.
See it if You like well crafted writing and great acting.
Don't see it if Your looking for a musical
Critic Reviews (6)
"'To Protect the Poets' is halfway there. When Doble focuses on the romantic longings of a lonely police detective and his equally shy and awkward girlfriend his play is touching and entertaining...But scenes involving a rapist-killer’s heartless crime, and the cop’s impassioned but lawless reaction to it, play like a first draft of a middling 'Law & Order' episode; the zingers are often vulgar and seldom very funny, and the dialogue rings false...The play is far better at love than at murder."
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"Playwright John Doble pursues ethical questions with admirable zeal...The production, efficiently directed by Bonilla, includes a few sequences of believable emotion, which may be credited primarily to the sensitive, well-calibrated performances...But those moments are frequently undercut by dialogue riddled with movie-of-the-week banalities...Doble is fortunate in his cast and director; but, with or without this particular group of performers, the play deserves further work and a future life."
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"'To Protect the Poets' shows how readily lines can be crossed when 'street justice' is employed, instead of the judicial system. This first-rate, timely and intelligent play is a just representation of how two people who love each other deal with violent crimes against women and police brutality."
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“John Doble’s characters are masterfully written...Never does a character’s growth or change read as a deliberate writer’s choice, but instead as an inevitable consequence of the circumstances. The latter is obviously helped both by Alberto Bonilla’s clean and sharp direction and by having the text be supported by a stellar cast. Each cast member brings something unique; their talents play a major part in creating the intrinsically layered world in which this story takes place.”
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“It's part police procedural and part '90s sitcom that never really intertwines. It causes tonal confusion on the part of Doble and director Alberto Bonilla...Isgro and Murray are two very different actors. With their chemistry lacking, ‘The Poets’ never was really ever able to take off…‘The Poets’ has a message we have heard far too often. But the execution of said message was a bit amiss. In a sea of politically driven pieces, ‘To Protect the Poets’ sadly sinks.”
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“A play about the ethical dilemma of whether we are ever justified to take justice into our own hands...The play manages to explore a painful, heart-wrenching topic (violent rape and homicide), followed by long moral questioning and all this heaviness was balanced wit laughter and moments of true emotion...If you enjoy grappling with moral dilemmas, and if you want to see a modern rendition of Romeo and Juliet then ‘To Protect the Poets’ may just be what you’re looking for.”
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