The Night Alive – Location, Tickets, Reviews
The Night Alive is a new play by Conor McPherson transposed to the Atlantic Theater Company’s stage from London’s Donmar Warehouse. McPherson is the Irish playwright behind such haunting masterpieces as The Weir (which just had a celebrated revival at Irish Rep) and The Seafarer. McPherson fans may find The Night Alive to be thematically smaller and tamer compared to his previous work – for the uninitiated, it’s a lovely play that will hopefully add a few more members to the McPherson fan club.
The Night Alive features a cast of McPherson regulars (read: some of the best Irish actors alive), including Ciaran Hinds, Brian Gleeson and Tony Award-winner Jim Norton. Hinds plays Tommy, a deadbeat wanderer renting a small room in the Edwardian home of Maurice, an Irish gentleman (Norton, in a titanic performance). Tommy’s simple life of hawking used goods with his dim friend Doc (Michael McElhatton) is upended one night when Tommy brings home a woman named Aimee (Caoilfhionn Dunne) who has been brutalized by a mysterious man named Kenneth (Gleeson). Tommy and Doc take Aimee in, under Maurice’s judgmental watch, and quickly learn that even good deeds have consequences.
Overseas critics were mixed when it premiered at Donmar (Variety praised the acting but noted that the story “lacks a motor”), but American critics are over the moon (the New York Times calls it, among other glowing things, “great art”). The acting is extraordinary and there are some beautiful moments, but we find ourselves damning The Night Alive with faint praise. It’s sweet, funny, and a chance to see the legendary Jim Norton in top form, but we did not find it as devastatingly awesome as most American critics. Two moments in the show – one involving a hammer and the other a great usage of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On?” – are brilliant hight points in an otherwise trifle of an evening from the typically magical McPherson.
LOCATION
The Linda Gross Theater at The Atlantic Theater Company
336 W 20th Street
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
1 hour and 45 minutes, no intermission
TICKETS
$65.00 (single tickets), $35.00 (member tickets) (click here for tickets)
DATES
Extended through February 2, 2014
NEWS & REVIEWS
Reviews
New York Times
Among the Debris, Something Divine
New York Post
‘Night Alive’ will win you over
Time Out New York
A spellbinding and absolutely gorgeous new play by one of the true poets of the theater
TheaterMania
Conor McPherson’s lovely new drama features a top-notch cast imported from London’s Donmar Warehouse.
Village Voice
The Night Alive Tempts You to Call It a Kitchen Sink Drama
Reviews (Donmar Warehouse Production, London)
Variety
“…its weakness is often redeemed by his close helming of a flawless cast…”
The Guardian
“Much as I like the play, however, I feel that McPherson, whose great strength lies in his resonant language, for once introduces too much plot.”
The Telegraph
“Conor McPherson’s new play is full of fine performances but lacking in magic.”
News
New York Times
Hope Doesn’t come Out of a Bottle (Feature on Conor McPherson)
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Written & Directed by Conor McPherson
Featuring Ciran Hinds, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Michael McElhatton, Jim Norton and Brian Gleeson