Buoyed by the promise of jobs and economic development, a series of factories plague a small town. But with reports of dangerous chemicals leaking from the industrial plants, a young woman must make impossible choices to protect her loved ones. Set over 40 years, Rishi Varma’s new drama SULFUR BOTTOM sees an embattled family forced to confront generations of environmental injustice—and maybe just a few talking animals along the way.
For all its aspiration, Sulfur Bottom feels more like a workshop draft than a finished play. Its mix of social indictment, family drama, and absurdist allegory never coheres, and its earnest themes collapse under the weight of muddled storytelling. As one theatergoer muttered while leaving: “What was that?!” Which, in truth, was a lot nicer than what my theater companion declared.
In addition to the serious and timely themes, Varma injects touches of humor and an overriding sense of absurdism into the play. Set in the interior of the old increasingly deteriorating house, the sometimes confusing story moves back and forth in time and dimension, from living characters in present-day scenes to their memories and revealed secrets of the past, imaginings and post-mortem appearances, as they discuss their dilapidated home, disagree over what to do with it, and ultimately come together as a bonded family, joking over dinner (be it in the mind or in the afterlife) on the site of the no-longer extant house.
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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