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Caroline Aimetti

Look Back in Anger

February 18, 2020

This current New York City revival, directed by Aimée Fortier, shifts the focus largely away from Jimmy and onto Alison (Elizabeth Scopel). Critics have described this character as passive, and there is evidence in the script that this is so. For instance, Alison can’t find the nerve or the right moment to tell Jimmy that she is pregnant. In this production, though, she seems to have a reserve of strength at her core. We identify with her in her struggle to cope with the insufferable verbal abuse she takes from Jimmy (Ryan Welsh). As the action proceeds, she seems to emerge as the play’s central character. This production even gives Osborne’s denouement a feminist twist. (We may again be reminded of Eliza Doolittle—specifically, her liberated final scene in director Bartlett Sher’s 2018 Broadway revival of "My Fair Lady.") It helps Fortier’s approach that, of the four leading players, Scopel delivers the smoothest, strongest and most believable performance in the production. [more]

Mourning the Living

April 15, 2017

Ms. Hogan’s dialogue is well crafted and the structure is stageworthy, but it all comes across as a playwriting exercise rather than a full-fledged dramatic work. Medically, Hogan’s premise is extremely unlikely and adds to the off-kilter dimension. The plot points of the combination of someone in their 30’s being stricken with Alzheimer’s Disease, and then years later getting a respite from it, stretches credibility. [more]