GRIEF HOTEL: A BIZARRE BUSINESS PLAN THAT DOUBLES AS A CLEVER LEITMOTIF
8 / 10
Playwright Liza Birkenmeier doesn’t make it immediately easy to grasp the gist of her quirky play, Grief Hotel. It starts with Aunt Bobbi – Susan Blommaert, queen of the deadpan delivery – planted in her armchair stage left. Updating the layout after the show’s fleeting premiere at the cramped Wild Project last summer, the design collective dots has sliced the Public’s smallest stage into a sharp, shallow wedge, lending the fast-paced, one-act play – deftly directed by Tara Ahmadinejad – a splayed, in-your-face feel.
