Honey Brown Eyes

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A Serbian soldier (Edoardo Ballerini) has barged into the kitchen of a young Muslim woman (Sue Cremin) in Bosnia, 1992. He brandishes an automatic rifle; she's frozen in place with a cup in her hand. After a silent, stressful moment, she rather absurdly offers him coffee. On a nearby table, a battery powered TV plays a Hollywood sitcom, with a laugh track punctuating the restless air in the room. This is the slightly askew world of Stefanie Zadravec's compelling Honey Brown Eyes, now receiving its New York premiere at the Clurman Theatre.

As a writer, Zadravec is skillful at keeping her audience on its toes. Absurd but raucous comedy can turn on a razor-thin edge to tragic violence, then t[...]

Carl Forsman has directed Michael Frayn's 1975 comedy Alphabetical Order, now being presented by the Keen Company at the Clurman at Theatre Row, with astonishingly sure-handed control. Nathan Heverin has designed the initially cluttered set with scary accuracy. And the players are impeccably cast and thoroughly adept at inhabiting their role. And yet, the experience ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its commendable parts.


While the work deals with the very contemporary subject of a newspaper in dire economic straits, the play's threatened anarchy may feel a touch too British for stateside audiences fully to fathom. Another possible problem is the play's abrupt shift from a bre[...]