More than six years after Nanette propelled them to international stardom, Hannah Gadsby is learning how to process the new world, with all its catastrophes and hypocrisies, from a new perspective. Hannah now finds themself yet again in a place of cultural dissonance, and we all know Hannah does their best work while casting their atypical eye over the fundamental contradictions of life. In this new show that could be seen as the mischievous echo of Nanette, Hannah brings it all – their worries, their wisdom, and their whimsy – to the 330-seat Abrons Arts Center for an intimate and unforgettable evening.
It may be unreasonable to expect continued innovation from a comic whose signature work was such a mold-breaking masterpiece, one that paved the way for a whole subgenre of comedy rooted in breaking down trauma in artful and darkly comic ways. Gadsby insists that their creative well of personal tragedy hasn’t run dry — “There’s a whole herd of baby reindeer I could slay for your consumption,” they say in yet another Netflix reference — but there’s a sense that Gadsby is no longer as interested in dredging up fresh anecdotes of despair. Been there, bled that. What we’re left with are playful, artfully phrased riffs on familiar themes like lesbian culture, autism, social media, and contemporary U.S. politics that feel like they might have been discarded pages from the notebooks for past shows.
At its core, Woof! is laced with deep messages—ones I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since I walked out of that theater, thinking and laughing (and once crying, when the truths hit a little too close to home), and I know I’ll continue to for a long time. Thank you, Hannah, for a few minutes of seeing the world through your eyes.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
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