THE WOLVES Reviews

[msbungee]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:07am

So far glowing. Loved it at The Playwrights Realm last year and seeing it at LCT in December.

Does it deserve a life on Broadway? Could it sustain one?

[raddersons]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:06pm

I've heard nothing but amazing things about this play, can't wait to see it in December. Here's a critical review round up posted by Playbill:

http://www.playbill.com/article/read-reviews-for-the-off-broadway-return-of-the-wolves

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:10pm

I'm here to give you a less-than-amazing opinion if you want to hear it.

[msbungee]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:16pm

I wanna hear it!

[jbird5]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:18pm

LizzieCurry said: "I'm here to give you a less-than-amazing opinion if you want to hear it."

Fire away.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:24pm

(I saw it at the Duke, FWIW.) I thought it was an evening full of the people I actively avoid in public spaces, and while obviously not every show has to have a character (or multiple characters) that I'd necessarily want to hang out with, everyone was so insufferable I felt myself putting up a mental wall.

I didn't care about any of the players except the one who lived in a yurt. While I honestly VERY much enjoyed that it was an all-female cast where every character was not there to be a male character's girlfriend/sister/wife/something otherwise not defined by her relationship to a man/etc, I was dismayed at how many afterschool special cliches had made their way into the show. Was the girl who hoarded the oranges there to tease an eating disorder or what? I felt like she (and I) were used in an unsatisfactory, half-baked possible C-plot there.

[NJGUY]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:35pm

I am with you.  Our group of four who collectively have gone to the theater for over 150 years all that it was a pile of S***.  There were no interesting characters, minimal character development and the personal dramas the characters each encounter are so cliche.  And let's not forget a set that could have been done by a 8th grade art student.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 12:43pm

I went with a friend, and my roommates saw the show as well — we all disliked it to varying degrees.

[somechrysanthemumtea]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:17pm

I will say that I walked away very very impressed by Sarah DeLappe's uncanny ability to really capture the cadence of high school students. Even in the ways that they speak to each other, and the overlapping, was just a pitch perfect representation.

Personally, I found it an astounding evening - funny, interesting, with character's that I cared about, and even knew. It's completely realistic, and I find it baffling that many of those issues referred to as "cliche", are actual things that happen in high school, at least they did for me! And they were never presented falsely, I could recognize and understand the reality in all the situations presented. 

 

It's also a story of independence, yet the importance of working alongside members of a community. A wonderful show. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:20pm

My friend recommended this to me back at the Duke, and told me I'd love the design. But judging from the pics/vids, it doesn't seem like much is going on?

[Kad]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:43pm

The design is simple but serves the production elegantly. It's a play set entirely on part of a soccer field... so it's part of a soccer field. Certainly no need for big budgets or design wizardry.

I thought the play was one of the best new works from last season. A team of young women all treated seriously by DeLappe and given unique, realistic renderings and the sense they are living and breathing outside of the context of the play. Yes, the play features high school Issues. But these are Issues that are issues for a reason, and DeLappe treats them seriously and not disingenuously. These are tropes without which very little in the way of action would occur. Not sure why they are dismissed so blithely as cliché while plays about adults are routinely just as fraught with clichés.  

The fact it has caught on so well is heartening- how often does an entirely new play get that?- and it is absolutely deserving of further life.

[mariel9]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:49pm

I thought it was engaging, funny, and moving. Each girl has a distinct personality developed just by watching them interact with each other. It's wonderful and too rare to see girls' lives treated like they're worthy of writing and caring about. I'm thrilled it's doing so well.

[TFMH18]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:55pm

"Our group of four who collectively have gone to the theater for over 150 years all that it was a pile of S***. "

Hm, I can't imagine why you all didn't enjoy it then. 

 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 2:55pm

Not sure why they are dismissed so blithely as cliché while plays about adults are routinely just as fraught with clichés.  

I don't like those either!

[msbungee]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 3:26pm

Personally, I loved Sarah DeLappe's writing. The dialogue was so real. I played girl's soccer all throughout high school and it totally brought me back.

Has anyone seen this both at The Playwrights Realm and at LCT?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 3:34pm

I can't get a ticket and can't justify paying $80 for it. So I hope it gets a Broadway transfer!

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 3:53pm

LizzieCurry said: "(I saw it at the Duke, FWIW.) I thought it was an evening full of the people I actively avoid in public spaces, and while obviously not every show has to have a character (or multiple characters) that I'd necessarily want to hang out with, everyone was so insufferable I felt myself putting up a mental wall.

I didn't care about any of the players except the one who lived in a yurt. While I honestly VERY much enjoyed that it was an all-female cast where every character was not there to be a male character's girlfriend/sister/wife/something otherwise not defined by her relationship to a man/etc, I was dismayed at how many afterschool special cliches had made their way into the show. Was the girl who hoarded the oranges there to tease an eating disorder or what? I felt like she (and I) were used in an unsatisfactory, half-baked possible C-plot there."

This captures my thoughts about the play perfectly. With that said, the Altman-like dialogue was quite effectively pulled off and I can’t say I’ve ever seen it so effectively used on stage. 

[jbird5]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 11:19pm

Didn't love it, didn't hate it.  Could have done without the orange peels.  Tedra Millan was quite good but could get annoying - I guess that's the character though.  I thought Susannah Perkins was much better in The Rape of the Sabine Women.  I would like to see that revived please.  Over all, The Wolves is a bit overhyped, It's probably better if you go into it without any expectations at all.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 10:43pm

I saw the show tonight. It's been hyped up quite a lot for me, and I was pretty disappointed by it. I was surprised to open this thread to find so many dissenting opinions, because after all the buzz I've been hearing, I thought I would be alone. 

Several in this thread have commented on how "real" the dialogue felt, and I have to disagree. I thought virtually every line of dialogue SCREAMED "playwright trying to imitate teenagers." The whole play was riddled with what I call "playwright-isms" - syntaxes, phrases, word choices, dialogue structures, etc. that rarely appear in real life, but appear all the time when playwrights try to write naturalistic dialogue. It especially becomes a problem adult playwrights try to write "teenage" speak. 

Part of this is a personal taste thing. I think this is almost always a problem with naturalistic plays, which is why I much prefer playwrights with a very distinct styles of writing. For me, as soon as you try to make dialogue sound "real," you have your work cut out for you, and 95% of playwrights do a bad job of it. I think the reason Annie Baker has been so successful is that she is actually quite good at making dialogue sound real, and I admire her for that, but I'd still take Martin McDonagh or Suzan-Lori Parks over Baker any day. 

But my generalized irritation with naturalism aside, I think this play suffers immensely as a result of the unrealistic dialogue, because "the way teenage female soccer players talk to each other" is pretty much all this play is. It was an engaging enough look into the social dynamics of this world - I wasn't bored. But I didn't think it amounted to much, and the twist at the end felt forced and kinda manipulative. 

[bandit964]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 8:33am

Very disappointed by this.  LizzieCurry and I share similar sentiments.  I actually loved the writing but did not enjoy most of the girls.  Lots of deep topics were discussed, but it didn't seem like the girls cared about anything they were talking about.  When confrontations occurred, the girls resorted to screaming with no hint of motivation.  Most things seemed forced.  Brenna Coates & Tedra Millan seemed to have developed characters, but even Ms. Coates seemed to push a times (even being the loudmouth).  Tedra Millan was a delight.  

[raddersons]

Posted: 12/24/17 at 12:47pm

I was also very nervous this would be overhyped for me, but I really loved this. I was totally engaged the entire time, and really loved the portrait that each actor was able to create with the characters. They were all distinct and sure, some were a little jarring and annoying, but guess what? Lots of high school girls are jarring and annoying! I struggled with the acting choices a bit at first but once the flow of the show started moving and especially in the more somber final act, I understood that they were conscious choices. There were a few loose ends left at the end but I actually didn’t mind that — lots of these issues go unspoken, unresolved, until college or beyond.

In reference to the “cliche” topics that they talked about — do you remember high school? When a fellow student lost her virginity and then immediately got broken up with, it was all anyone talked about for a month. These are things that high school girls talk about. They’re intentionally not too complex because high school students don’t get too complex and only process and know so much — what they’re taught (genocide), and what they’re interested in (boys, girls, and in this case, soccer?)

Stakes were low, but felt very high. That’s the point, isn’t it?

What’s bizarre is that when someone asks me what it is, I just kinda say “It’s a bunch of high school girls running soccer drills and talking over each other about the things high school girls talk about.”

The older audience members around me really did not seem to be enjoying it at all — they were whispering, asking lots of questions, and were a little confused. Screw em. I’ve seen much worse plays make it to Broadway. Why not The Wolves?

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 12/24/17 at 2:59pm

Raderson said "The older audience members around me really did not seem to be enjoying it at all — they were whispering, asking lots of questions, and were a little confused. Screw em. I’ve seen much worse plays make it to Broadway. Why not The Wolves?"

Well, I'm one of those "older" audience members, who went to see it this past Wednesday night and all of us thought it was quite good. In other words, we pretty much agreed with your assessment, just not your take on us seniors. 

However, I don't think it's for Broadway. It's perfect in the Newhouse. 

[TheSassySam]

Posted: 1/8/18 at 2:32pm

This production will be in Chicago at the Goodman next month. The Goodman has $10 balcony seating for The Wolves, would the balcony be worth it? Or should I splurge and get the $38 orchestra seats?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/16/21 at 2:05am

LizzieCurry said: "Was the girl who hoarded the oranges there to tease an eating disorder or what? I felt like she (and I) were used in an unsatisfactory, half-baked possible C-plot there."

JBroadway said: " But I didn't think it amounted to much, and the twist at the end felt forced and kinda manipulative."

After watching the livestream, I agree with these two points (also, what about her concussions/nosebleeds?) but otherwise, I found it engaging and worthwhile. The dialogue didn't bother me. I found it natural enough. I don't like extreme naturalism in plays. The only thing that irritated was when different groupings of the girls had overlapping conversations. I was happy to be able to scrub to at least go back and listen to which one was important even if I couldn't understand both. I think a lot of the issues boil down to the play trying to do too much. It felt like multiple episodes of Degrassi awkwardly compressed into 90 minutes. It was able to use some shorthand but that also created some weaknesses. The structure was also a little choppy. Two of the characters were meaner than the others and some of that was hard to sit through, and perhaps a bit inauthentic to teenagers these days, but I found the others very tolerable.