Delirium Off-Broadway Reviews

That these characters relentlessly tease each other even as everything outside seems to fall apart makes Delirium striking in its comedy and sorrow. On the one hand, Him and Her have each other. On the other, they may fail to recognize the reality of...

That these characters relentlessly tease each other even as everything outside seems to fall apart makes Delirium striking in its comedy and sorrow. On the one hand, Him and Her have each other. On the other, they may fail to recognize the reality of their situation and its consequences on everyone else.

These are the moments that made it worth sitting through a production whose chaos, for all its inventive variation, requires some patience. The performers demonstrated an endurance far more impressive than my own; As they smothered each other with h...

These are the moments that made it worth sitting through a production whose chaos, for all its inventive variation, requires some patience. The performers demonstrated an endurance far more impressive than my own; As they smothered each other with heavy mattresses, jumped on top of one another, rushed up and down stairs, it started to hurt my back just to watch them.

And above all, Denis Zabikaya drops us into their world, both the war zone and the domestic fantasias they indulge in, through his sound design (with the help of Anna Drubich’s music), which mixes practical effects with recordings (and even the occ...

And above all, Denis Zabikaya drops us into their world, both the war zone and the domestic fantasias they indulge in, through his sound design (with the help of Anna Drubich’s music), which mixes practical effects with recordings (and even the occasional bit of audience participation) so that each sound comes from a defined location. The sonic environment has a realism that lets the surreal and absurd qualities of the piece flare brighter against its backdrop.

“Delirium” also felt like a relief to me—it offered a break from the usual polemic realism. Absurdity can be a liberation: it’s permission to stop making sense, an open door to ambiguity. Still, what makes Golyak’s production really roar in...

“Delirium” also felt like a relief to me—it offered a break from the usual polemic realism. Absurdity can be a liberation: it’s permission to stop making sense, an open door to ambiguity. Still, what makes Golyak’s production really roar into flame is the astonishing magnetism of his performers, Chulpan Khamatova, a Russian theatre and movie star who fled her homeland because of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Andrey Burkovskiy, a celebrated Russian figure skater and actor.

<span style="font-family: Overpass, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(232, 232, 232);">Golyak directs with a masterful hand, leaving no stone unturned; he takes advantage of every word, every punctuation mark, never wasting an opport...

<span style="font-family: Overpass, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(232, 232, 232);">Golyak directs with a masterful hand, leaving no stone unturned; he takes advantage of every word, every punctuation mark, never wasting an opportunity to add to the maelstrom.</span>...

Burkovskiy and Khamatova are splendid as the archetypal lovers. Ionesco was inspired by vaudeville and silent films, and under Golyak’s direction, the actors exhibit the comic timing of seasoned and dexterous clowns. They milk laughs from bits with...

Burkovskiy and Khamatova are splendid as the archetypal lovers. Ionesco was inspired by vaudeville and silent films, and under Golyak’s direction, the actors exhibit the comic timing of seasoned and dexterous clowns. They milk laughs from bits with ratty mattresses, a standalone door, window frame, and apartment buzzer. Additionally, they adroitly perform a gag with a drenched hat and wig that recalls the buffoonery of the Marx Brothers. (Sasha Ageeva’s costumes, consisting of tattered formalwear, contribute to the characters’ little-tramp-like personas.)

Burkovskiy and Khamatova make this miserable partnership enormously entertaining. Each contradiction has time to land, and a look or a pause can extend a joke without another word. Their complaints feel personal even when the reasoning is ridiculous,...

Burkovskiy and Khamatova make this miserable partnership enormously entertaining. Each contradiction has time to land, and a look or a pause can extend a joke without another word. Their complaints feel personal even when the reasoning is ridiculous, giving the verbal comedy the bite of two people who know precisely how to aggravate each other.

Actors Aundrey Burkovskiy and Chulpan Khamatova are themselves brilliant in their characters as well as bouncing, jabbing, and jumping on each other. Together they bring this absurd play to life. Their commitment to the physicalness that this play is...

Actors Aundrey Burkovskiy and Chulpan Khamatova are themselves brilliant in their characters as well as bouncing, jabbing, and jumping on each other. Together they bring this absurd play to life. Their commitment to the physicalness that this play is asking of them is complete and I can’t imagine any other actors able to be both physically expressive and emotionally raw.

In the current climate of pointless wars and nonsense-spouting politicians, we should be primed for works like Delirium. Somehow, however, it fails to resonate. For all the talent expended on this production, it feels like a faded bulletin from anoth...

In the current climate of pointless wars and nonsense-spouting politicians, we should be primed for works like Delirium. Somehow, however, it fails to resonate. For all the talent expended on this production, it feels like a faded bulletin from another era. Its laughter and its terrors are surprisingly muted.