In Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ world premiere of The Comeuppance, the latest from “one of this country's most original and illuminating writers” (The New York Times), a self-proclaimed “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” reconvenes for the first time in years to pregame for their twentieth high school reunion. They refamiliarize themselves with new versions of old selves over drinks, other substances, and a not-so-innocent truth-telling game. From the start, Death looms over and speaks through them, describing their disquieting and darkly comedic fates. The Comeuppance marks Jacobs-Jenkins’ prolific decade as a Signature Premiere Resident playwright.
Three years of solitary writing time turns out to be productive. Seemingly every playwright produced lately has been thinking about the pandemic, as well as its accompanying loneliness, many different stabs at generational angst, dollops of horror, and addiction (more of those later this week). You see gestures and ideas repeated, many different attempts to get at similar feelings. Then you get to a play like The Comeuppance, which channels and condenses what’s been floating in the ether and brings it all to earth. Here’s a drama where Branden Jacobs-Jenkins both sums up and reconfigures the present moment.
As the play progresses, we come to feel the weight of their lives and regrets, and understand the intricacy of their connections with one another. At the same time, however, there are some baffling choices for the production that undermine our ability to engage with the play. When Death takes over each character, the voices are not the actors’ natural instrument, but speech that is electronically amplified and distorted, with an echo effect, rendering these monologues occasionally indecipherable, and always annoying. (Wouldn’t the change of lighting have been sufficient to clue us in?)
2023 | Off-Broadway |
Signature Theatre Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Play | Palmer Hefferan |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | Caleb Eberhardt |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Eric Ting |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | The Comeuppance |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Director | Eric Ting |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Ensemble | The Comeuppance |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lighting Design | Amith Chandrashaker |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Play | Branden Jacobs-Jenkins |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Sound Design | Palmer Hefferan |
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