Off-Broadway Review

'For Love' Is Sexy, Salty, and Sharp

In “For Love,” at the Irish Repertory Theatre, actor-playwright Laoisa Sexton chronicles the messy romantic lives of three Dublin women with raunchy wit and quirky details.

'The Drowning Girls' Takes Your Breath Away

With a capable cast and an evocative staging, Strange Sun Theater’s “The Drowning Girls” breathes vivid life and cheeky humor into the true story of the Brides in the Bath Murders.

‘The Mound Builders’ Takes Too Long to Catch Fire

Director Jo Bonney’s flawed revival of Lanford Wilson’s 1975 drama “The Mound Builders,” at Signature Theatre, fails to highlight the subtle exposition with sufficient clarity.

'Bears' Is Silly to the Point of Absurdity

Mark Rigney’s “Bears,” a nonsensical jumble of a play getting its New York premiere at 59E59 Theaters, follows the adventures of three grizzly bears in a post-apocalyptic world.

‘The Lying Lesson’ May Not Be Deep, but It’s Fun

Craig Lucas has written a divertissement in “The Lying Lesson,” at Atlantic Theater Company, which offers a terrific Carol Kane as Bette Davis plus a gun, a knife, and a thunderstorm.

'Strike Up the Band' Concert Serves Up Gorgeous Gershwin

Musicals Tonight! has fielded a respectable bare-bones rendering of “Strike Up the Band,” with the Gershwin score faring better than George S. Kaufman’s satirical anti-war script.

'The Flick' Wears Out Its Welcome

“The Flick,” Annie Baker’s deliberately anti-theatrical drama at Playwrights Horizons about the banal existence of employees of a rundown cinema, can’t sustain at three hours plus.

‘Detroit ’67’ Stays on Simmer

“Detroit ’67,” Dominique Morisseau’s new play about the Detroit race riots that’s part of the Public Theater’s Public Lab program, is appealing but lacking in tension and conflict.

Heart-Stopping 'Shaheed: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto' Analyzes a Martyr

“Shaheed: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto,” writer-performer Anna Khaja’s engrossing solo show at Culture Project, examines the Pakistani prime minister’s assassination.

Windy ‘Neva’ Finds Few Chuckles in Chekhov

“Neva,” at the Public Theater, attempts to satirize the work and life of Anton Chekhov, but writer-director Guillermo Calderón’s dark, moody concept isn’t appropriate to the task.