Five Models in Ruins, 1981
Closing: June 01, 2025Five Models in Ruins, 1981 - 2025 Off-Broadway History , Info & More
Claire Tow Theater
150 West 65 Street New York, NY 10023
Roberta (Elizabeth Marvel), a visionary fashion photographer, lands the gig of a lifetime - the cover of Vogue - but quickly learns it could be her downfall. Location is a nightmare. The models are vicious. Hair and makeup is MIA. And the cigarette supply is running dangerously low. As chaos escalates, Roberta must summon her strength and find the perfect light to capture a moment of beauty in a brutal world.
Set against the backdrop of a crumbling European estate in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s wedding, Five Models in Ruins, 1981 is a darkly comedic exploration of a woman grappling with the power of her own gaze.
Five Models in Ruins, 1981 - 2025 - Off-Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Five Models in Ruins, 1981
Five Models in Ruins, 1981 Off-Broadway review — Elizabeth Marvel-led play strikes familiar poses
6 / 10
Waiting to see what develops goes with the art of photography — and theatre. But audiences anticipating something persuasive or perceptive to surface in Five Models in Ruins, 1981 will be kept waiting. Insights stay elusive in this uneventful fashion-forward play that’s not sharp or funny enough to snap as satire or deep enough, despite 11th-hour primal howling, to click as drama.
FIVE MODELS IN RUINS, 1981: DRESSED FOR EXCESS
6 / 10
A situation that does not develop its promise significantly, Five Models in Ruins, 1981 features plenty of period name-checking (Basquiat, Ungaro, Prince, Roxy Music, Parker-Bowles, “some girl named Madonna?” et alia), a dance party, a thunderstorm, and a protracted scene of caterwauling misery meant to be cathartic—and possibly even comical—but which mostly appears horrifying. It is difficult, frankly, to determine the author’s intentions because these sequences, the often terse, sporadically amusing conversations and several scenes of parallel action are poorly staged and erratically paced by Morgan Green, the director.
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