Review Roundup: GRANGEVILLE Opens at Signature Theatre

Samuel D. Hunter’s Grangeville is now playing off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre. The production stars  Paul Sparks and Brian J. Smith. Find out what the critics are saying in the reviews below!

Grangeville takes its title from the remote Idaho town of the same name. Across a void of thousands of miles and oceans of hurt, two half-brothers tentatively reconnect over the care of their ailing mother. Sparks plays Jerry, the older sibling—belligerent as a teenager, sensitive as an adult—who still lives in Grangeville, while Smith plays Arnold, an artist now living in Rotterdam, drawn back into his past. Their remote connection—over the phone, over video chat, with fragments of their respective contexts audible and visible to one another—collapses their physical distance while underscoring just how many social worlds apart they are. In this emotionally gripping new play, Hunter explores the fallibility of memory, the stories we tell to make sense of our suffering, and the complexity of forgiveness.

Jesse Green, The New York Times: The play’s engine having finally turned over, it purrs confidently to the end, which includes a coup de théâtre reminiscent of the one in Hunter’s previous Signature outing, “A Case for the Existence of God.” Like that gorgeous play, too, it offers the idea of incremental hope to those whose lives would not seem to allow it. The trick, as Stacey learns from reading medieval history, is to find the freedom in that. There is no fate, Hunter argues, and his play demonstrates: just an infinity of second chances.

Sara Holdren, Vulture: The stage of Grangeville is never flooded with light — Hunter’s characters never reach so complete a catharsis — but something does grow out of the darkness. Two men who began with an ocean between them now share a pool of light. It’s not nothing, and who knows how it may grow.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: Slowly we learn what the issues are in “Grangeville,” the latest play by Samuel D. Hunter that is, much like his others, quiet, insightful, ultimately moving. If your relationship with a sibling is complicated – and whose isn’t? – it hits home. At the same time, though, the production, which opens tonight at Signature Theater, might require a little more work on the part of the audience, thanks to a few challenging choices by both Hunter and director Jack Serio.

Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: Packing a nice surprise towards its conclusion, the play is crisply staged by Jack Serio, the director, within purposefully stark environs designed by the dots team that enable Stacey Derosier’s lovely lighting design to bridge continents and to overwhelm individuals in emotional shadows. Background sounds designed by Christopher Darbassie contribute to the production’s easy naturalness. Hunter’s conversational dialogue and Serio’s staging both invest Grangeville with a sense of forward movement even as much of its story recounts the characters’ past.

Steven Suskin, New York Stage Review: Arnold is firmly in control of the play, the situation, and his emotions; until, suddenly, he isn’t. Actor Brian J. Smith—who might be remembered for his Tony-nominated role of the Gentleman Caller in the Cherry Jones/Celia Keenan-Bolger production of The Glass Menagerie—offers a wonderfully shaded performance. Jerry, meanwhile, calls for a wide range of character-shading. Paul Sparks is so true in the initial scenes—during which the author seems to have painted an intentionally stereotyped picture—that his performance becomes almost startingly impressive as the 90-minute play progresses.

David Cote, Observer: While the design team does much dramaturgical lifting, the acting is equally superb. Just when you think you’ve seen every vocal twang or behavioral quirk from the longtime secret weapon Paul Sparks, he whips up another virtuosic portrait of a damaged, complicated weirdo (they tend to be more country than urban).

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre Guide: There may be an art to living amid crushing struggles, a theme underscored by Arnold’s career. His breakthrough works are three-dimensional models inspired by memories of places he left behind in Grangeville: a Dairy Queen, a pawn shop, a tattoo parlor. Brace yourself for an ingenious scene that bridges past and present and blurs the line between real life and a diorama that hits close to home.

Average Rating: 74.3%