Mad House packs dozens of metaphorical and word-play punches, thanks to Rebeck's cutting script and Moritz von Stuelpnagel directing an authentic family drama. David Harbour delivers a commanding performance.
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‘Mad House’ has an absolutely tremendous cast who were never not going to be able to carry this off. But ultimately you’re left with a play that doesn’t know if it wants to be ‘Hamlet’ or ‘Clybourne Park’, and suffers as a result.
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In a play with too many half-drawn, derivative characters, [Harbour] is the one for whom we end up caring. It is ultimately a play with bits of brilliance ... but falling – heroically – short.
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The dark comedy draws you in, but hits the snag of leaving you a bit high and dry when you yourself are required to care. The evening makes valid points about how hard the family straitjacket can be to escape. But the elaboration of resentments has a pre-fab quality.
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The first hour or so delivers an absorbing blend of dark and light, anguish and humour. Sadly, that delicate balance goes awry later. It’s still a thought-provoking piece, but you’re left wondering what might have been.
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Director Moritz Von Stuelpnagel holds the wildly divergent tonal shifts together as best he can, and the cast are never less than watchable but the overall impact is strangely muffled.
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[This] offbeat black comedy loses focus despite meaty performances from David Harbour and Bill Pullman. Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel ... bulks up the text with plenty of purposeful non-verbal cues.
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Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel keeps things pacy, and secures fine, flamboyant performances from this A-grade cast. But still, this is all deeply old-fashioned stuff which ... could have easily been written any time in the last five decades.
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