THEATRE

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• Event Name: The Wrestling Patient
  "Fine acting of weak material"
  Review posted by: Chris from Boston, Apr 15, 2009
  

  This is the sort of play that should have been really terrific. The actors did a first-rate job; the problem, I think, is with the play itself. The main character goes from being a spoiled... Expand

  This is the sort of play that should have been really terrific. The actors did a first-rate job; the problem, I think, is with the play itself. The main character goes from being a spoiled self-absorbed brat in the first act to something like a saint in the second, with no explanation or transition. The audience is simply asked to swallow this transformation whole. The whole thing ran way too long and was too predictable--I spent most of the second act waiting for the inevitable deportation to get over with so that the play could finally end. Oh well. Collapse

• Event Name: The Wrestling Patient
  "spirit is missing"
  Comment posted by: bill himelhoch from jamaica plain, Apr 14, 2009
  

  The playwrights' decision to de-emphasize Hillesum's prayer life is unfortunate. Her conversations with God were, after all, the source of her astonishing strength as the Jews of Amsterdam were... Expand

  The playwrights' decision to de-emphasize Hillesum's prayer life is unfortunate. Her conversations with God were, after all, the source of her astonishing strength as the Jews of Amsterdam were exterminated. No wonder Act 3 was lacking. Just imagine George Bernard Shaw omitting any reference to Joan of Arc's communications with the archangel because they would not be good theatre. Quite the opposite. What could be more riveting than Etty whispering to her brother amid the chaos of the detention camp, "God has made me so rich. Oh how can I share all that beauty. Can you tell that the beat of my heart has grown deeper, as if I were all the time storing up an inner treasure? Collapse

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