Review Roundup: The Amoralists' RANTOUL AND DIE

Having earned a reputation as one of New York's most daring young theater companies, The Amoralists continue to grow in size, ambition and audacity. In the seven years since its founding, the Company has successfully produced 16 productions of ten plays, including nine world premieres, and has quickly moved from basement theaters to Off-Broadway. On the heels of these accomplishments, The Amoralists kick off "The Summer of The Amoralists" season with the New York premiere of Mark Roberts' Rantoul and Die, directed by Jay Stull and featuring performances by Derek Ahonen, Sarah Lemp,Matthew Pilieci and Vanessa Vaché - all members of The Amoralists' 50-member ensemble.

In Rantoul and Die, Rallis and Debbie's marriage has reached its expiration date. In fact, it's soured and stuck to the bottom of the carton. She wants him to pack his stuff and hit the bricks, but he's clinging to the past like a cat on a screen door. How far will a man go to hang onto his lady? It's a thin line between love and hate, between a kiss and a punch, between an ice cream cone and a beer bottle to the back of the head.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: Along with some snappy dialogue, "Rantoul and Die" is blessed with smart, naturalistic acting. Vaché suggests Callie's steely spine underneath her Midwestern "oh my gosh" cutesiness. And Lemp makes Debbie understandably frustrated and harried rather than merely bitchy - the actress is the sharpest weapon in the Amoralists' quiver. But their best efforts can't prevent the show from getting bogged down in chatty scenes that go around in circles. And holding patterns are just as frustrating onstage as they are on planes.

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: Writer Mark Roberts, whose credits include the sitcoms "Mike & Molly" and "Two and a Half Men," provides the punchy and un-P.C. story, freed from the restraints of network television. The 2009 play arrives Off-Broadway following earlier productions in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Jenna Schere, Time Out NY: The black humor and casual violence of Mark Roberts's 2011 play fit downtown provocateurs the Amoralists like a glove. Sad sack Rallis (Ahonen) is the moaning, off-brand-Froot-Loops-chomping nucleus around which the action revolves. His fed-up wife, Debbie (Lemp), is trying her damnedest to leave him; in response, he attempts a half-cocked suicide. While he grows grass on the couch, both Debbie and his excitable buddy Gary (Pilieci, in a push-broom goatee) try to bully him into some kind of action. The ensuing mayhem traffics chiefly in shock value and belly laughs, and it's delightful.

James Hannaham, Village Voice: Comparably high-pitched marital dysfunction ensues in Rantoul, but Poorhouse encouraged audiences to laugh down their lorgnettes at lower-class people with low class. In contrast, playwright Mark Roberts, reminiscent of Nicky Silver, creates indigent and intelligent characters who are ridiculous and human, repulsive and sympathetic.

Brian Wallace, Edge: Director Jay Stull has done an accomplished job with an exceptional group of people. There's a mischievous glint to his style, and scenes are heard before they are seen, revealing something you often didn't think they were. He has also inserted a smidgen of direct address into the play, something that is not in the script. It works, though, and comes delightfully full circle when Rallis gets to tell us what he thinks.

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