Tender Napalm

See it if you would enjoy two actors pouring out their energy to portray two characters in the push and pull of a relationship in an ambitious script.

Don't see it if you want a linear play - this jumps and you must listen closely to the constant dialogue or you will be lost. You must envision all-bare set

See it if wildly imaginative game playing between two talented actor dancers exploring the rough edges of their sexuality would keep your attention

Don't see it if you expect a clear plot. There are lots of suggestions of what might or might not be happening but nothing is ever quite what it seems.

See it if You like word pictures spun out to you by each character taking on the same words. Lyrical yet violent. Beauty and implied tragedy.

Don't see it if You want straight narrative. You dont want to have to do the work, you have to listen. Uncomfortable word pictures which seem violent but?

Also I really dont know how I felt about this production. I would like to see it performed by several different casts to hear it spin out.
Again, I prob missed the point but I didn't find the "violent" passages violent. Nor did I find the images of grenades, sea serpents, rocks and shells arcane or disturbing.
This play is passion and the grief of lovers, parents, a loss filled with vivid images revisited by each character. They are nameless. Without label. So we can make of them what we will.
To me this was a portrait of two people loving extravagantly, wrestling with the pain of loss of a child, finding any surcease possible. The man seemed to reach out to the woman's grief to draw her back with love, sex and a magical tale. The actors garbed in black occupy a white mat on which they grapple physically and emotionally, like gymnasts tumbling to the very edge. I loved the wisp of white cloth which somehow contained/constrained the action and tethered the couple to each other, to earth.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see a short play about a dysfunctional relationship, well-acted an well directed

Don't see it if you want to see a play that keeps to its title topic (brilliant when it does), but goes on too 20 min. long beause it tries to "explain".

Also If you are triggered by sexual violence you definitely should avoid this show.

If you hate "performance" art - don't go.

When Philip Ridley's script sticks to the topic - Tender Napalm - it is brilliant. When it veers, trying to "explain" the relationship between the protagonists - becomes somewhat boring and uninteresting. It seems that someone told him that it "needed" to be at least 75 minutes and he filled 20 with extraneous "stuff". This would be MUCH better at 55.

Amra James Aja is brilliamt as "MAN". Ayana Major Bey is very good in her acting and choreography as "WOMAN", but her background is mostly in musicals shows when she speaks. A few more straight plays and acting lessons should fix this.

Ridley's play is wonderfully race, ethnicity and gender neutral. If an author is striving for this goal, then they should see this play. In this area he achieves what has kept Shakespeare alive for 500 years.... Read more Read less

See it if you are able to follow long monologues about a relationship and don't mind graphic language

Don't see it if you need flashy sets, costumes, etc or tsunamis are a trigger for you

See it if Strong strong performances in this poetic experimental play.

Don't see it if If you are a fan of experimental pkays

See it if You enjoy heady & fantastical dialogue, and can enjoy movement rather than standard staging, if you enjoy seeing strong young actors

Don't see it if You want a light evening or production values. Or If you would be irritated by a wandering symbolic story requiring alot of interpretation

See it if You don’t mind non linear love stories that can be a bit confusing at times. Great actors and good dialogue. A bit sexy at times.

Don't see it if You prefer straight forward plays.

See it if great americanization of compelling british play. (didn't realize till later that I saw the original.) great work by actors and director.

Don't see it if ... you need conventional structure and need to know at every second what is going on. ... don't have patience to let the piece come to you.

See it if you are interested in an experimental play where two characters compete at creating contrived and fantastic stories about their situation.

Don't see it if you prefer plays with a clear plot and that do not seem to evade reality.

See it if This caught me from the start with the dynamic chemistry of the actors. The text is challenging but they brought it to life and full circle.

Don't see it if It is challenging to understand their relationship portrayed and it takes some work by the viewer. It is not handed to you on a gold plate.

See it if you like experimental theater that doesn't have a straightforward narrative.

Don't see it if you need a linear plot to enjoy theater.

See it if You like being confused and bored.

Don't see it if You have anything else you’d rather do. It was terrible, and I am unsure of why... Was it the actors or the writing or the direction?

See it if You love in your face theatre, Avant garde, movement, and minimalism. Tender Napalm is a story told through movement and strange metaphors

Don't see it if You are easily offended, don't like absurd theatre, or don't like small venues.

See it if a graphic, poetic, mythic, athletic exploration of crazy love sounds interesting to you.

Don't see it if you are looking for standard drama or are upset by graphic descriptions of (sometimes sexual) violence.

Also Ever been so crazy in love with someone you want to tear that person apart? The current production of “Tender Napalm” at HERE reimagines a London hit of 2011 by bad boy playwright Philip Ridley, not often produced in NYC. I was glad to see this but realize it’s not for everyone. A man & woman in a boxing-type ring alternate speeches or have short dialogs that capture a cruel poetry & reach for mythic situations. Some speeches feel too long for their payoff, but most are full of particulars that keep our interest. The text weaves image & incident, repeating, varying, elaborating, eventually dovetailing the characters’ stories so the playwright can pull it all together for a satisfying final scene. Staging is athletic, the couple fit & pliable as they carry out a movement score, sometimes dance, sometimes contest, often combat. The sole prop, a long piece of gauzy white fabric, sees many benevolent & diabolic uses & contrasts smartly with the actors’ black singlets. L’amour fou is chic!... Read more Read less

See it if you don't mind a pretentious poetic piece where two characters trade stories that can include violent graphic sexual aggression.

Don't see it if you have no patience for something than is reminiscent of the affected writing one does in high school. Less a play and more a word piece.

See it if Lovely, tender, sensitive, with confusing time leaps. Portrays a relationship between people bound together by love and tragedy.

Don't see it if Someone reviewed it as raunchy. I say it was a passionate relationship between two star-crossed lovers.

See it if you like avant garde, poetic theater. A linguistic play, but it all comes together in the end.

Don't see it if you are triggered by obscene language, or sexual violence.

See it if couple/lovers on bare stage sparring verbally and physically, expressing love & despair, reality & fantasy, toward final scene revelation

Don't see it if you don't have patience for poetic reminiscence and fantasy, cannot deal with language containing brutal, violent sexual imagery.

Also The language and movement takes you on a journey through past experiences and fantasies of two lovers, offering bits of revelation and clues that all come together in the final scene. I liked it but it is definitely not for everyone!... Read more Read less

See it if into a sparse poetic relationship play; highly uneven

Don't see it if impatient with poetry

Also The two talented performers shine when expressing their sensual or warm dynamics, but when it comes to playfulness, we get a series of interchangeable audition scenes: sudden screams and speeches about unicorns . Every charming scene is followed by inane , eye-rolling awfulness. This 2011 play makes a point of mixing reality and fantasy -- maybe it felt less pretentious way back when.... Read more Read less

See it if you have the patience for a slow burn. Confusing as it is, it's also strangely rewarding.

Don't see it if you can't handle edgy, sexually-charged material or have no appreciation for intimate productions.

Also I'm a patient viewer open to the weirdness and experiment but after 80 minutes, I wasn't completely sold on this play. I really wanted to like this one; there is some good material there but needs a serious rewrite and extensive dramaturgical help. – plus a stronger directorial hand at the wheel. While ideas – about relationships, masculinity/femininity, race, class – are strong and thought-provoking, the text is overindulgent and at times pretentious; the actors, while giving it their best, seem very unconvinced of what they are saying. Maybe it would help to give it to a female director next time?..... Read more Read less

See it if If you like to hear couples darkest most violent fantasies and don’t mind non linear plots. Touching in moments but confusing too.

Don't see it if You don’t like violent graphic writing and need a plot. The play goes everywhere hard to follow not easy to recommend.

See it if You like language driven theater with lots of monologues You appreciate non linear stories about relationships

Don't see it if Concrete, linear storytelling Characters engaged in abstract monologues rather than conversations

See it if You’re looking for a poetic production featuring two talented actors (m,w) in a sometimes intense flirt/romp with very graphic expressions.

Don't see it if Graphic description of jungle fights and male castration are too much for you. small production with no props, just two bodies and a scarf

See it if You want to walk out early and end up sobbing in the ladies’ room.

Don't see it if You’re upset by graphic descriptions of sexual violence.