Hir
Tickets from $65 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
As she’s long proved in the plays of Christopher Durang, actress Kristine Nielsen is perhaps the stage’s greatest portrayer of “eccentric” women, off-kilter souls who both make us erupt in hysterics and feel ever-so-slightly-bad for them. But Nielsen can also be powerful, heartbreaking, and vulnerable – and she’s all of the above, plus magnificently eccentric, in Taylor Mac’s audacious new play “Hir” at Playwrights Horizons. Indeed, as Paige, a formerly abused wife who has taken control – in her own special way – of her household after the stroke of her now-docile husband Arnold (a brave Daniel Oreskes), Nielsen may be handing in the finest performance of her long career.
Even in her wackiest moments, Nielsen is the glue that holds together Mac’s often brilliant if slightly overstuffed creation, a tragicomedy that tackles everything from gender politics and spousal abuse to the death of the middle class and the role of the military in just under two hours. This singular author’s work is sometimes as messy as Paige’s house (sublimely rendered by David Zinn) – and like that house, Mac has been smart enough to figure out how to hide the holes (even if he eventually displays them) to make “Hir” a remarkably engaging experience.
The work pivots around the arrival of Isaac (a fine Cameron Scoggins), who returns from the war after three years and finds his home literally turned inside out. It’s not just the physical disarray of his surroundings, the mental and physical and deterioration of his father, and the emancipation of his mother that unsettles him, but also the transformation of his sister Maxine into his brother Max (played with authenticity by transgendered teen actor Tom Phelan) – developments he’s been unaware of during his time away.
As we soon learn, Isaac has undergone transformations of his own as a Marine, some for better and many for worse. But it’s his desire for “normalcy” -- which simply don’t mesh with the vision for a new life that Paige has dreamed up and put into action, eventually leading to conflicts found in even the most standard domestic dramas.
And while you may never again see a battle over an air conditioner (one of director Niegel Smith’s finest sequences) like the one between Paige and Isaac, it’s the bigger societal battles that truly interest Mac. He may not have all the answers, but the questions he asks about the world are important ones. And Nielsen and her excellent co-stars make sure that, even through some uproarious laughter, we are all listening.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/hir
Cast
Kristine Nielsen, Daniel Oreskes, Tom Phelan, Cameron Scoggins
Open/Close Dates
Opening 11/8/2015
Closing 1/3/2016
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 10/16/2015
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-279-4200
Theatre Info
Playwrights Horizons
416 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !