Girls & Boys
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Cititour.com Review
Are all stories worth telling? Are all storytellers worth listening to? It’s a question faced daily by ticket-buying theatergoers, especially those considering attending solo shows. So to cut to the case, in the case of Dennis Kelly’s “Girls & Boys,” being performed by the astounding Carey Mulligan at the Minetta Lane Theatre under Lyndsey Turner’s superb direction, the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. As in a don’t-miss-it because you’ll be sorry if you do, yes.
Like with many such shows of this ilk, we’re not exactly who this woman is or why we are her audience. Dressed chicly in a designer blouse and pants (the costume is by Jack Galloway) and standing in what initially appears to be a simple box with a solid background (by the great Es Devlin), she begins by recounting how she ended up in a queue for a flight in Italy where she would meet a man who would become both her husband and the father to her two children.
From the moment she begins talking, Mulligan’s character impresses us with her intelligence, her forthrightness (expressed sometimes in rather vulgar language) and her acute self-awareness, all traits that will continue to be necessary over the next 100 minutes as she slowly and rather deliberately reveals how her life changes over the next few years.
To give away too many other details would be unfair, as Kelly (whom some Americans might know for his Tony Award-winning book for the musical “Matilda”) cleverly doles out the entire tale – as well as its overriding purpose – in not always easy-to-digest bites. Some viewers might put all the puzzle pieces together before the very end – there are hints in both the text and the set design -- but I suspect the majority of the audience will feel a bit gutpunched by what our narrator eventually reveals.
Still, for all the tale’s resonance – I will say it ends up being both personal and “political” – the best reason to see “Girls & Boys” is to watch how Mulligan keeps us spellbound. Yes, it often feels as if the character has told this story before, and I sometimes wondered if the character was giving a version of some speech that had been highly rehearsed or previously delivered. But Mulligan’s delivery feels consistently authentic and heartfelt. It is, to put it simply, a privilege to watch this first-rate actress at the height of her powers.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://girlsandboystheplay.com
Cast
Carey Mulligan
Open/Close Dates
Opening 6/12/2018
Closing 7/22/2018
Box Office
800-982-2787
Theatre Info
Minetta Lane Theatre
18 Minetta Lane
New York, NY 10012
Map
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