7 / 10
It takes a great deal of skill to pull off a work that’s as quietly understated as this. The women, interacting in pairs, mostly delve in circular small talk. In lesser hands, the conceit would be a total bore, but the Irish Rep’s minimalist production, directed by Conor Bagley keeps us hooked by planting little clues that allow us to seize on inconsistencies exposing the desperation and lengths the women go to hide their unhappiness.
5 / 10
It's a miniature: small in cast, production, and running time (an hour ten). So why do so many peculiarities crop up? First, what era are we in? The chatter sounds current, but current events are never raised, no one carries a phone, and when someone's arranging a future meeting, it's always, "I'll call." (Stephanie Bahniuk's costumes, attractive in themselves, are no help in pinpointing a time period.) Why does nearly every scene begin with someone entering while someone else is waiting, and an exchange of, "Sorry about that," "That's OK"? When the reunited Denise and Anna mention Cora and somberly stop in midthought as though something dreadful happened to her, why is that the last of that? And why is the final scene a replaying of the first, too much of it, with a new beginning–Cora having unaccountably become a famous author–and a new coda? The new dialogue rehashes events in their lives that wouldn't have happened yet, and the looping around suggests that maybe this whole play is happening in Cora's mind, or maybe isn't happening at all, it's just O'Rowe going on about women's friendships, the gossamer ramblings blanketing the strong emotions underneath. It's a jolt of a finish, a trait it shares with Ulster American, its Irish Rep upstairs neighbor.
See what the critics are saying about The Approach at Irish Repertory Theatre in BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup here. The production is currently playing Off-Broadway.
