By: Ethan Coen
Directed by Neil Pepe
Synopsis: In "Waiting," someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In "Four Benches," a voyage to self-discovery takes a British intelligence agent to steam baths in New York and Texas, and to park benches in the U.S. and U.K. In "Debate," cosmic questions are taken up. Not much is learned.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"While there are whiffs here of the sulfuric, satanic wit that infuses Coen works like “Blood Simple” and “Fargo,” film fans expecting matching auteur-style shivers for the stage will be disappointed. On the other hand, theatergoers nostalgic for the urbane, mind-teasing divertissements that once flourished Off Broadway — but withered away in the profit-hungry age of Broadway-or-bust economics — should leave happily hungry."
Read the whole review HERE.
THEATERMANIA:
"Yet, despite all the talent involved, this slight program of three unrelated one-acts is only mildly amusing."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"He's just received multiple Oscar nods for "No Country for Old Men," but filmmaker Ethan Coen shouldn't expect many accolades for his theater debut.
Aptly titled "Almost an Evening," the minor one-acts that opened Tuesday night at the Atlantic Theater Company would barely pass muster at any of the many one-act-play festivals dotting the theatrical landscape."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
""Almost," a trio of emotionally charged one-acts, at the Atlantic Theater Company's Stage 2, is an 80-minute theatrical snack, not a meal. The tone is more "Fargo" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" than "Old Men" grim. Its pleasures come from Coen's idiosyncratic plotting, off-kilter humor and the razor-sharp performances by nine multitasking actors."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"Any one of these short works would sit fine in the kind of theater company benefit where similar throwaway one-acts regularly get strung together. But while the modesty of its title may suggest the writer is still testing himself on the basics before attempting anything more substantial, "Almost an Evening" is largely unremarkable. Diverting but slight and too self-consciously clever by half, the plays amount to three extended absurdist jokes with soft punchlines."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEWSDAY:
"Despite the short 80-minute length and the winking humility of the title, the three playlets offer a full evening of wary humor and unpredictable turns of desperation. An almost sweet appreciation of existential hopelessness runs through the evening, staged with squeaky-dry economy by Atlantic's artistic director, Neil Pepe."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"Just in case the pointedly expectation-lowering title "Almost an Evening" wasn't enough of a tipoff, Mr. Coen's gifts for loquacious yet crisp dialogue and subtly screw-tightening narrative are all but absent in this plodding trilogy of playlets. Burnished here and there by flashes of wit and by a shockingly overqualified cast, "Almost an Evening" struggles in vain to take the Coens' genially dyspeptic worldview and encapsulate it into bite-size morsels of existentialism."
Read the whole review HERE.
TIME OUT NY:
"The title of Ethan Coen’s theatrical debut, Almost an Evening, sounds preemptively apologetic, but it turns out to be a case of overstatement: This wan trio of absurdist playlets barely amounts to half a show. Had it not been written by one member of a successful filmmaking brother team, would it have been presented at the Atlantic with an insanely good cast that includes F. Murray Abraham and Elizabeth Marvel? Doubtful."
Read the whole review HERE.
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