Armory “Enemy of the People” - REMAINING PERFORMANCES CANCELLED

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/26/21 at 7:51pm

Wow! Huge news! This sounds fascinating, and Robert Icke is one of my favorite directors working today. I'm not personally familiar with Ann Dowd, but I know she's well-regarded, and I've heard she's a big Oscar contender for the new film Mass, set to be released in a few months. 

Armory's last few shows have sold out like crazy. This one is a longer run, but I anticipate it selling quickly too, so I bought tix right away. It's a shame that you have to buy 2, but I luckily managed to find a +1 quickly. 

I wasn't crazy about the Armory's last couple pandemic productions, but I have a ton of respect for what they're doing. They're running a tight ship, and they're clearly stepping up and trying to provide as much theatre as possible with the resources at their disposal. I wish the tickets were cheaper, but I've always felt that about the armory, and in any case you can see where the money is going. I wish St. Ann's could be putting on more live performances right now, aside from the 1 Bengsons concert they did. 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-HANDMAIDS-TALE-Star-Ann-Dowd-to-Lead-Interactive-ENEMY-OF-THE-PEOPLE-at-Park-Avenue-Armory-20210526

Updated On: 7/10/21 at 07:51 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/26/21 at 8:32pm

Wonder how "big" this show will be? It's a huge space. The last few things i saw there I loved because of their grand scale, so I can't imagine a one-woman show in that space. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/26/21 at 8:47pm

That occurred to me too, but this is something I worry about every time I go to the Armory (because I always buy the cheapest tier) and I usually haven't had a problem even for the more "intimate" (by comparison) shows. 

Also, knowing Robert Icke, I expect he'll have a live video feed displayed on large screens, or something of that nature. 

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 5/26/21 at 9:50pm

I only know Ann Dowd from The Leftovers, and I’ve never seen an Icke production, but I bought tickets to see this on my upcoming work trip in July. Hoping to catch Shakespeare in the Park as well. Thrilled to see theater happening this summer!

I bought the cheapest tier, too, JBroadway. Interested to see how it goes. I’ve never been to the Armory but have always wanted to see a show there. Needless to say: I’m excited!

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/26/21 at 10:27pm

I wish, I love Icke - jealous!

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 1:54am

It’s a cool venue regardless of what you see! And I’m sure this will be the same!

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 8:15am

Well, this was exciting news to stumble upon this morning. Bought my ticket for June. I love Ann Dowd and this sounds fascinating. Can’t wait to be back in the Armory also.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 10:59am

Still plenty of dates available as I write this. I guess I'm not very good at predicting what will sell out quickly and what won't lol 

[zedpi]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 11:37am

 I love Ann Dowd and the Armory is such a cool space last time I went, I really want to go but don’t have a +1. Its annoying they don’t sell single tickets, but understandable given covid. Anyone in a similar position and looking for a theatre buddy to go with in order to get tickets? i’m fully vaccinated and pretty flexible with showtimes. PM me if interested.

Updated On: 5/27/21 at 11:37 AM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 12:42pm

I like Icke too. Expect an intelligent reading of a classic play in contemporary dress with contemporary allusions. I did find Icke's ORESTEIA to be a bit of de-mythologizing bore. Also not a fan of The Armory as a playing space for intimate acting. I always think that many of the shows that I saw there would have worked much better at the Harvey Theater at BAM.

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 6/22/21 at 6:09pm

The Armory has extended performances through August 8th, but, frustratingly, they're still selling only in pairs.

Enemy of the People | Park Avenue Armory (armoryonpark.org)

[ardiem]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 6:43pm

They announced rush tickets for performances tonight through the 30th! $28 available starting one hour prior to performance.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 6:48pm

It's confusing because the rush is 1 per person but generally tickets to this have to be sold in pairs.

Has anyone seen this yet? I'm curious is a one woman show is swallowed by the venue.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 7:08pm

Damn - $28 for rush? That's the cheapest ticket I've ever heard of the Armory selling in the 3 years or so that I've been seeing shows there. Now I'm a bit bummed that I paid like $60+ (with fees) and went through the trouble of roping in a +1 

Oh well, at least I have the peace-of-mind. Still excited to see the show!

I'm also a bit worried about the venue, but Icke is a smart director. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, knowing his past work, I assume there will be some live video feed component to the show, possibly making it easier for the faraway audience members. 

[ardiem]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 7:16pm

I’m sitting in the venue now. All the tables have seating for 5, so maybe that’s how they were able to squeeze in the rush seats. There are probably 30 tables total. The staging is such that I don’t think anyone will have trouble seeing. There are also two large billboards on opposite sides of the venue that will likely be used for projections. Each table also has a small monitor.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 7:20pm

ardiem said: "I’m sitting in the venue now. All the tables have seating for 5, so maybe that’s how they were able to squeeze in the rush seats. There are probably 30 tables total. The staging is such that I don’t think anyone will have trouble seeing. There are also two large billboards on opposite sides of the venue that will likely be used for projections. Each table also has a small monitor."

 

Thanks for the report! Glad to hear that. 

Kind of annoying that they would go through the trouble of making people buy in pairs, only to seat you with other pods. But again: oh well. 

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 8:44pm

Thanks for sharing, ardiem! Please do report back with a review!

[ardiem]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 10:32pm

I'm not a great reviewer, so apologies for my fragmented thoughts here...

I came into it being completely unfamiliar with the original work. I felt the play was less about being invested in the characters and more about them being a vehicle for you to reflect on your own moral code. The play was interspersed with some seamlessly-integrated opportunities to "vote" on the direction of the play, but it was a per-table thing rather than individual thing. The concept didn't quite work for me - you're given a minute to discuss amongst your table a binary choice, and maybe I'm being too neurotic about it, but they involve some weighty issues that aren't amenable to snap judgments and the whole process just kind of runs counter to the careful and methodical consideration that the characters themselves deem important. It was also unclear if the votes actually registered - there wasn't any feedback that I noticed when pressing the buttons. Voting qualms aside, the story and the questions it raised resonated with me. I do think it could have done a better job of staying in a moral gray area consistently - there were moments where it lost its nuance and characters veered into caricature.

I thought the performance was fine. If it weren't a solo show, I'd imagine the runtime could be cut by a third, as much of the dialog was descriptive. There was a lot essentially naming who was speaking, as it wasn't particularly clear from the performance itself. The narrative/descriptive lines weren't as... poetic?... as The Lehman Trilogy, which I naturally reach to as a point of comparison since I saw it at the Armory and everyone played multiple characters. The large video screens employed a technique where the camera angle would change when she flipped characters, which helped slightly.

The size of the space always manages to awe and overwhelm me in a way that masks other shortcomings. The set could be visualized as a large, raised X with the audience seated at tables in between the legs of the X. I think no matter where you were, you'd have a decent view of the action, but at the same time, there wasn't much to see. There were no set pieces, save for a map in the center that was mainly used to accent transitions (and only seen through the live video projections).

Overall, I'd say I had an enjoyable, but not memorable evening. I would've been fine paying full price for a ticket.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 6/25/21 at 9:27am

Thank you for posting about rush. I so wanted to see this and thought it would be impossible. Going tonight to try.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 6/26/21 at 1:44pm

Thanks for sharing your thorough, ardiem!

Hate to be that person, but were they giving out any kind of playbill/program? Or was there a printable virtual one? I collect one from every show I see, so was just wondering. Thank you!

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 6/26/21 at 7:22pm

For anyone looking for more details on rush tickets, they had 10 tonight (not sure if that’s true every night). They’re in separate locations, so if you go with someone else, you’ll be at different tables (at a table of 5 with two pairs).

The program is digital.
https://programs.armoryonpark.org/enemy-of-the-people

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/26/21 at 10:31pm

Any more reviews on this?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 6/27/21 at 12:47am

If you’re a fan of the original play, as I am, I think you’d enjoy it. I was moved.

Dowd is serviceable. Sometimes captivating. Other times weak. But formidable. I think in a few weeks she’ll be something tremendous. As of now, she does have some teleprompters around - but it is a tough and evolving text and she is in command of it, most of the time.

I quite like Icke’s ability to hold a mirror up using classics. This is not his best, but still a satisfying evening of theatre.

Not really a bad seat in the house.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 6/27/21 at 7:54am

Though I’m not a fan of the original play (in practice more than in theory, as it is a fascinating plot), I found this to be a thought-provoking evening that still needs some time to settle and coalesce.

Ann Dowd was excellent, I thought, as her ability to tell this story alone is, more often than not, quite captivating. Yes, she is using teleprompters and sometimes it shows, but this is over an hour and a half of text that’s shifting every night, so I can’t blame her. But because there is nothing to focus on but her, and particularly her voice, where the show begins to flag, she hasn’t quite settled yet into a solid rhythm.

There are clever uses of the billboard projection screens to indicate which character she’s speaking as when there’s more than one speaking at a time, but I get the sense that the lighting and camera cues could use a few more performances to learn Dowd’s groove to make them clearer. Overall though, and maybe this is just because I so desperately missed the theatre, I wish Robert Icke had inflected the production with just a touch more theatricality to keep the blood pumping. Despite being anything but subtle (Dowd’s Professor Joan in particular is a bit of a raving lunatic), it rarely feels like more than a live, true crime podcast you get to vote on with strangers. It’s a fantastic concept, but I can’t help but feel slightly short-changed for how glorious the Armory space is.

What the show DOES have to offer is the conversation it sparks. My husband and I were at a table of 4 with one other couple, and we were consistently in happy but firm disagreement on each vote. With only a minute to discuss and 10 seconds to press the button to lock in your answer, it becomes a stressful game of who has a better argument. Almost all of our choices came down to “rock, paper, scissors.” The whole story has some pretty pointed, completely non-explicit commentary on how we arrived at the state we did with COVID-19 (and Flint, Michigan, and and and); a late comment about the town sign saying “Drive carefully!” when arriving, but not when leaving, struck a chord.

If nothing else, this is a great reason to have someone with you, to continue the conversation after and congregate with strangers again. I forgot how much I missed striking up a conversation with the person sitting next to me for the short time we’re stuck together. And when you add in the voting element, where every choice is black or white, you start to see how you align or don’t align with them morally in the face of some pretty serious issues. Strongly recommend it if you haven’t gotten a ticket yet.

Updated On: 6/27/21 at 07:54 AM

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 6/27/21 at 10:15am

I have 2 seats available on 7/3@2pm as I’m unable to attend. $110 or best offer. PM if interested. Thank you!