HUGH JACKMAN comes to Broadway's most intimate playhouse in THE RIVER, a gripping new drama that thrilled and mesmerized audiences during a sold-out London run.
On a moonless evening, a man brings his new girlfriend to a remote cabin for a night of trout-fishing. But before the night is over, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems... and as memory collides with desire, the truth becomes the most elusive catch of all.
From playwright JEZ BUTTERWORTH and director IAN RICKSON comes this haunting and seductive new play that has already become the must-see event of the season.
Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, the Royal Court Theatre production of The River will open on Sunday, November 16 on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre (West 50th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue).
If "The River" was playing some dinky little theater with a bunch of unknowns, it'd be dismissed as flimsy and gimmicky. Yet the above description still applies: This show is overreaching and underachieving, its hollow pretentiousness even more glaring under the bright Broadway lights. Playwright Jez Butterworth's previous effort, the Tony-nominated "Jerusalem," was overrated, but compared to this, it's a masterpiece. At least Ian Rickson's production - he also directed the London premiere, starring Dominic West ("The Affair") - looks good. Ultz's rustic set and Ian Dickinson's elaborate sound design make the most of the Circle in the Square's in-the-round design, taking us to a lived-in cabin by a babbling brook.
Rather than offering practical explanations or clear timelines, The River keeps returning and reconfiguring the same handful of subjects and themes - love, truth, loss, fish. There's also a brief cookery demonstration. Some will find this frustrating, even the cookery part. (That fish looks delicious. Why can't Jackman share?) But if you can live with ambiguity - and with Jackman's doughty faith in his own charm - you may find The River's insistence on ambiguity strangely vitalising. Just when you think you've closed in a solution, it slips through your fingers and swims effortlessly away.
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