Chinese Friends
Tickets and Information
SHOW INFORMATION
CURRENTLY CLOSED
Opened May 27, 2004
Closed Jun 13, 2004
Opened May 27, 2004
Closed Jun 13, 2004
Directions & Map
Visit the Chinese Friends website:
http://www.playwrightshorizons.org
TICKETS TO THIS SHOW
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WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The title of Jon Robin Baitz's new political thriller, Chinese Friends, refers to the board game of the same name, also known as Reversi or Othello, derived from the ancient Chinese game, Go. In this vein, the play features a game of cagey one-upsmanship that ensues when a young man and two friends track down his long-estranged father,
a politico in exile, to demand the truth about their past. Deep-seated personal and political secrets become tactical set-pieces, complicating conflicting desires for revenge and rehabilitation. The play is an unsettling parable about strife and sacrifice between fathers and sons at opposite ends of the political spectrum in an America thirty years hence. Robert Egan directs this world premiere.
There is an additonal performance Wednesday, June 2 at 2:30 PM.
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recommend, approve and/or guarantee such events, or any facts, views, advice and/or information contained therein.
©1999-2012 TheaterMania.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
One has to wonder if Jon Robin Baitz meant his new play, Chinese Friends, to be a comedy rather than a serious, cautionary drama that's supposed to be suspenseful, politically engaged, and unpredictable. The playright succeeds on that last front but only because the plot twists that he throws into the piece -- particularly in its last five minutes -- are so absurd as to provoke the laughter of disbelief.
Baitz sets his play in Autumn 2030. It's a dystopian future in which American society has crumbled and a former politico named Arthur Brice (Peter Strauss) has retreated to a remote cabin where he hoards discs filled with incriminating audio recordings of his former colleagues. As the play[...]