The Shed Adds Matinee Performances to STRAIGHT LINE CRAZY Starring Ralph Fiennes
The Wednesday matinee performances will be on November 2, 9, 16, and 30, and December 7.
By: Stephi Wild Oct. 11, 2022
The Shed has added five Wednesday matinee performances to its run of David Hare's Straight Line Crazy, which begins previews October 18 ahead of an October 26 opening night. Performances will run through December 18.
The Wednesday matinee performances will be on November 2, 9, 16, and 30, and December 7.
Following an acclaimed run this spring at The Bridge Theatre in London, Straight Line Crazy delves into the questionable legacy of Robert Moses and his enduring impact on New York. The play presents an imagined retelling of the arc of Moses's controversial career in two decisive moments: his rise to power in the late 1920s and the public outcry against the corrosive effects of that power in the mid-1950s.
For 40 uninterrupted years, Robert Moses was considered the most powerful man in New York as he envisioned and built public works whose aftereffects determine how New Yorkers experience the city to this day. Hare's play exposes Moses's iron will, which exploited weaknesses in the state and city governments as he worked to remake public space. Though never elected to political office, he manipulated those who were through a mix of guile, charm, and intimidation. Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of New York City's working class, he created new parks, new bridges, and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors. However, Moses often achieved these public works at the expense of disempowered New Yorkers, particularly people of color, living in the way of and near his projects. In the 1950s, groups of citizens began to organize against his schemes and the prioritization of cars over public transportation, campaigning for a very different idea of what a city should be.
