Review Roundup: THE BREAK OF NOON

The Break of Noon is Neil LaBute's seventh collaboration with MCC Theater as Playwright-in-Residence, following the 2009 Tony Award-nominated Best Play, Reasons to be Pretty. Renowned for his darkly-comic morality plays (The Shape of Things, In a Dark Dark House), he teams up again with longtime collaborator, director Jo Bonney (Some Girl(s), Fat Pig), for this exploration of the daunting, sometimes harrowing process of "finding religion." David Duchovny ("Californication," "The X-Files") stars as John Smith, a man who, amidst the chaos and horror of the worst office shooting in American history, sees the face of God. His modern-day revelation creates a maelstrom of disbelief among everyone he knows. A newcomer to faith, John urgently searches for a modern response to the age-old question: at what cost salvation?

The production features actors Tracee Chimo, David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks and Amanda Peet, under the direction of Jo Bonney. An official opening night is set for this Monday, November 22, 2010. The Break of Noon is a co-production with the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (Gil Cates, Producing Director; Randall Arney, Artistic Director; Ken Novice, Managing Director).

Ben Brantley, NY Times: I don't know about John's future as a man of faith, but "The Break of Noon" is an act of artistic backsliding for its creator. Mr. LaBute seemed to be stretching beyond his facile, built-to-shock morality plays with "Reasons to Be Pretty" (seen on Broadway last year) and "Fat Pig" (a play from 2004, soon to be revived on Broadway). Here he falls back on old patterns of concealed truths and an exclamatory, last-minute punch line.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: It's probably inevitable that the work of anyone as prolific as LaBute is going to be erratic. For every bracingly insightful play like In the Company of Men, Fat Pig (returning next spring on Broadway with Dane Cook) or the recent Reasons to Be Pretty, there are disposable exercises in attitudinizing to which name actors gravitate nonetheless. This one lands on the latter pile.

Michael Sommers, NJ Newsroom: Duchovny's deeply-felt performance is abetted by three fine actors depicting two characters each. Amanda Peet is vivid in contrasting roles as the bitter ex-wife and trashy girlfriend, aided nicely by costume designer ESosa's changes in her appearance. All coy gesticulations and sweetly insinuating tones, Tracee Chimo is deadly funny as a glib TV interviewer. John Earl Jelks is especially striking as a lawyer who counsels John about his options in the media minefield while licking his own lips over their likely profitability.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: In the end, though, the play ticks on Duchovny's perf as John, and his ability to keep us guessing about the true nature of his miraculous conversion. The skeptics all have their say, but Jesse comes closest to the point when she accuses John of faking his "miracle" in order to win forgiveness for "all the bad shit you've done."

Mark Kennedy, Associated Press: Duchovny virtually never leaves the stage for 90 minutes and he tries hard to show that he's not just a TV and film actor. But those mediums have trained his expressions and voice to be small and he sometimes fails to connect Smith's inner turmoil to the back rows. That said, his two monologues that bookend the play are terrific.

Linda Winer, Newsday: Neil LaBute gets religious on us - or does he? - in "The Break of Noon," the latest from the famously devious and prolific playwright at MCC Theater, where he is playwright-in-residence. LaBute, who has evolved from our bracingly unrepentant bad-boy playwright to a less reliable dark star of redemptive morality plays, aims for the big plot twist - God and faith - in the 95-minute drama.

 

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