Sabbath's Theatre.

"Sabbath's Theater" at the Romulus Linney Theater is a stream of consciousness play, John Turturro gives a masterclass for one hour and forty minutes. Without an intermission it is he who locks in the audience. The play which is written by Philip Roth is as raw, edgy as anything Kafka would write. The people who came to watch were artistic, even Bohemian. "Sabbath's Theater is a throw back to the days of La MAMA, Truck and Warehouse Theater. Directed by Jo Bonney, nothing is left to the imagination... it is sex and sex and sex.

After thirteen years with his Yugoslavian mistress, Drenka, (Elizabeth Marvel), Mickey Sabbath (Turturro) spirals out of control after her death. He is now haunted by the ghosts of his past and present. His mother encourages him to commit suicide rather than continue living such a shameful and depraved life. Returning to the people and places he once knew, Sabbath returns to New York City to attend a funeral for his old producer and friend, Linc. In search of his ex-wife Nikki, he meets up with another old friend and producer of his Sabbath's Theater, Norman (Jason Kravits).

Mickey who was once regarded as a great puppeteer has become unrecognizable; steep in his lifelong debauchery, he was fired from the school where he taught for having an affair with a student. His second wife, Rosanna has thrown him out and is now living with a woman. She is a recovering alcoholic and thinks Mickey can only hurt her.

With a small stage, Arnulfo Maldonado does a brilliant job with his scenic design (costumes as well). The projection design opens up the stage and makes it bigger than it is (Alex Basco Koch); the lighting is equally brilliant by Jeff Croiter; his cool whites and blues gives off the feeling of despair, he brings the raw, edgy feel to this well acted play.Mikaal Sulaiman too brings an eery feel with his sound design. In the adaptation by Ariel Levy and John Tuturro, however, we sometimes get confused where physically Sabbath is. It wasn't always clear if he was in Massachusetts, New York City, or even at which stage of his life he is in.

"Sabbath's Theater" with its edgy and other worldly feel is deep, resonant and welcomed. In the 80's and 90's more off off Broadway houses produced works like this.In today's productions we are not getting enough plays like this; even La Mama and the Public have shied away from these types of works and it is unfortunate.

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A commentary.

Years ago (I have written about this many times) we had real edgy theater like Sabbath's Theatre. Actors who could exercise their talents onstage in deep, raw Theater Noir. Interesting and deep Sabbath's Theatre was what I miss about off and off off Broadway!

Theaters like LA MAMA, Truck and Warehouse Theater, East Village Playhouse, The Public, NYTW, Lucy Lortel Theater, The players and many more. Putting on shows like this went anathema to Broadway, it was different, cool, hip and on and on. Off Broadway in the 80's and 90's ran the gamut of theater; whether traditional. or plays very similar to this at houses like The Houseman, Playwrights Horizons, The Fairbanks and more, it gave audiences a variety of theater to go to. Who could forget Red Scare on Sunset at the Provencetown Theater in the West Village?

Today all we get off off Broadway is climate change plays, LGBTQ plays that are showcased between 3 and 5 weeks put on by small PR people like Dan Demello. Usually awful and with limited amounts of people to watch these terrible plays, it is a waste of theater space, a waste of time to even attend.

We need to get back to the days of shows like Sabbath's Theatre and stop wasting our time with much of this garbage that is being produced both off and off Broadway.

Lucy Lortel Theatre, Playwrights Horizon, Dan Demello Public Relations, off Broadway, Tony Awards, Obie Awards, John Tuturro, Theater, Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, Hamilton, I Need That, Danny DeVito.