Getting "Blood From A Stone"

We saw Blood From A Stone last night at The New Group. I bought the tickets because I'm a big Ethan Hawke fan, especially since we saw him on stage in Hurly Burly a few years ago (same company, space, and director - Scott Elliott). Stone also stars Gordon Clapp, who's best known for his years on NYPD Blue, and was terrific in Glengarry Glenross on Broadway (with Liev Schreiber and Alan Alda).

The reviews weren't very good - the Daily News described it as "unyieldingly grim...churns into blandness." The New York Times wasn't much better: it "grinds through its glum familiar paces..."

But here's my bottom line: It's a dark comedy and they just didn't get it.

We (my husband and I) laughed a lot and thought it was terrific. So did the guy next to us, who we'd never seen before. And so did the couple on the far end of our row. It reminded me of the dark comedies of Irish playwright Martin McDonough, like The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Judging by the (very) happy expressions on the actors' faces when they took their bows, we may have laughed quite a bit more than their average audience. (Which is a reminder that laughter is contagious: a subject for another day.)

If that kind of black family humor - whether Irish or American in setting - is your taste, I definitely recommend Tommy Nohilly's Blood From A Stone. The one point on which I will agree with the reviewers is that the actors are all terrific: Hawke and Clapp are joined by Ann Dowd, Thomas Guiry, Natasha Lyonne, and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

In one final note and a nod to my favorite subject of women's restrooms: Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St., between 9th and 10th Avenues) is one of my favorite places to see a play. It's a complex of 6 theaters that share ticketing, restroom (excellent!), and lounge space (great for a cup of coffee or a beer before a show).

On strobe lights, (fake) gun shots, and smoke effects

I saw A Free Man of Color shortly before it closed - it was OK, neither great nor terrible. It was definitely loooonnnngggg. The cast was very good, especially Jeffrey Wright (pictured at left), who was on stage almost all of the 3 hours. I'm a big fan of Paul Dano (I saw him - wonderfully - on stage in Things We Want as well as on screen in Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood). The only thing that I don't like about the actor Mos, who was also terrific, is that I'd just gotten used to an actor named Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith) when he shortened it to just Mos.


But my point here is separate from the acting (good) or the writing (disjointed). When I got to the theater, there was a sign announcing that the production includes gun shots - three of them, in fact. I don't really mind fake gun shots, but I'm sure that there are people who do.


My pet peeve is strobe lights, which are also announced at the door to a theater. I hate them I hate them I hate them. I cannot say strongly enough how much I hate them. For short periods, I close my eyes and cover them. If it goes on too long, I've been known to walk out of the theater. Yes, in the middle of a play.

I'm sure that there are people with allergies who feel equally strongly about smoke effects.

So here's my point: all of these effects should be announced clearly in all ads for the show. They should be made completely clear in any on-line ticket sales, and mentioned in any telephone sales. That way if we don't like them, we don't need to see them/hear them/inhale them.


I don't begrudge producers the right to use whatever effects they want. But tell me about them first.


End of rant.