ANON Off-Broadway Reviews

The staging by Anne Kauffman leans heavily on the current penchant for excessive video projections, giving the evening an unnecessary multi-media feel (we get it, we’re all glued to our screens). Although it partially makes up for the blandness of ...

The staging by Anne Kauffman leans heavily on the current penchant for excessive video projections, giving the evening an unnecessary multi-media feel (we get it, we’re all glued to our screens). Although it partially makes up for the blandness of the set design by the ubiquitous collective “dots” which consists of little more than a large kitchen table for what the playwright describes in her script as “a kitchen table play.”

It’s all very clever, perhaps too clever for its own good. On a cerebral level, Anon offers plenty food for thought. The insanity of QAnon’s wild conspiracy theories has become disturbingly pervasive and I applaud Anon’s effort to sound the ala...

It’s all very clever, perhaps too clever for its own good. On a cerebral level, Anon offers plenty food for thought. The insanity of QAnon’s wild conspiracy theories has become disturbingly pervasive and I applaud Anon’s effort to sound the alarm. But for all its dramatic ambitions, nothing is resolved and the production leaves the characters and the audience hanging, strangely unmoved.

Washburn has crafted a story meant to expose a far-right mindset without digging very deep into its root causes or its effects (if Jeanie’s children are in danger of diving into similar dark waters, there are no clear signs here). We hear Jeanie sa...

Washburn has crafted a story meant to expose a far-right mindset without digging very deep into its root causes or its effects (if Jeanie’s children are in danger of diving into similar dark waters, there are no clear signs here). We hear Jeanie say that she was once “your garden variety Commiefornia liberal” but never what triggered the radical change in her outlook. Finn seems to pivot between two performative modes, from delusional reasonableness to wide-eyed kookiness, that keeps the character at a safe distance — an object of satirical derision rather than an individual whose fractured worldview seems explicable given her particular circumstances. In the end, Anon lacks the specificity to bring its central character fully to life and out of the shadows of anonymity.

My ANON experience amounts to a tantalizing glimpse, a head full of questions, and a travel schedule that has refused to cooperate. I’m especially sorry to miss Finn, but I’ll leave this suburban tempest to the lucky audiences who get to see wher...

My ANON experience amounts to a tantalizing glimpse, a head full of questions, and a travel schedule that has refused to cooperate. I’m especially sorry to miss Finn, but I’ll leave this suburban tempest to the lucky audiences who get to see where it all goes. Fill me in if you get the chance.

ANON shows how users try to manipulate algorithms to attract viewers, but says little about how platforms steadily feed users more extreme material. More attention to that reverse process, including how the influencer herself became influenced by con...

ANON shows how users try to manipulate algorithms to attract viewers, but says little about how platforms steadily feed users more extreme material. More attention to that reverse process, including how the influencer herself became influenced by conspiratorial content, would offer a more complex exploration of agency and responsibility.

Washburn has an uncanny ability to tiptoe up to rich dramatic situations without ever seeing them through. I enjoy edging as much as anyone, but give me a satisfying climax before curtain call. Unfortunately, Anon is the kind of play that ends in an ...

Washburn has an uncanny ability to tiptoe up to rich dramatic situations without ever seeing them through. I enjoy edging as much as anyone, but give me a satisfying climax before curtain call. Unfortunately, Anon is the kind of play that ends in an inconclusive blackout. It’s unsatisfying onstage, but perhaps a truthful depiction of a world that doesn’t follow neat rules of dramaturgy. It’s good to have a plot, but the world keeps spinning without one.