Review Roundup: BLOOD FROM A STONE

An unflinching and darkly comic depiction of life in blue collar Connecticut, Blood From A Stone zeroes in on a working class family wrestling to keep it together as day-to-day struggles exert their squeeze. When Travis pays a visit to his parents' home, he finds an already volatile household imploding and his close-knit but deeply conflicted family teetering on the brink.

This production features Gordon Clapp and Ann Dowd as Bill and Margaret, Ethan Hawke and Thomas Guiry as their sons Travis and Matt, Natasha Lyonne as daughter Sarah, and Daphne Rubin-Vega as neighbor Yvette. A limited engagement runs through February 5 at The New Group @ Theatre Row.

Charles Isherwood, NY Times: "Blood From a Stone" would also benefit from some of the scorching humor that Tracy Letts employed to create freshening sparks in his celebrated drama of a flamboyantly unhappy family, "August: Osage County." There are some moments of dry levity. When Travis tells his father that a friend has set him up with a free rental car, Bill retorts, "What do you mean, 'a buddy owed you a favor'? We're not Italian." But these glimmers of humor tend to gutter quickly, small candle flames smothered in the prevailing fog of misery.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: The play may be a shapeless mass of disconnected scenes with no cohesive dramatic core, but the characters are full of angry life. And while that anger makes them almost inarticulate, there's no escaping the power of their fierce threats and howling curses. In short, this is the kind of play that can really challenge a company.

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: The New Group describes its play as "darkly comic." It is, on balance, a lot more dark than comic, and those looking to be uplifTed May need to head to the nearest watering hole directly afterward. But for others, watching the work of a brand new playwright in such talented hands may be uplifting enough.

Linda Winer, Newsday: Whenever it rains, big chunks of the ceiling crash into the mess of a kitchen. The husband smashes his loathed wife around and drives his car into the porch. One son vomits in the garbage, another has sex behind the sofa with the wife of the drug pusher from next door. And everyone in the family hollers - a lot.

Michael Sommers, NJ Newsroom: In spite of some good acting - portraying a relatively sensitive member of the family, Hawke's mix of emotions ranging from tenderness to revulsion is handsomely layered - and the bleary realism of director Scott Elliott's production (Derek McLane provides the eyesore setting that takes quite a beating), the play fails to build momentum and simply staggers along from one outburst to another.

Brendan Lemon, Financial Times: A long, entertaining first act is not sufficiently strong to Make Up For the short, disappointing second section. But effectively blunt dialogue and a wry, sensitive central performance by Ethan Hawke as Travis are sufficient to commend Blood from a Stone.

 

 

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