Women of Will

Theater

Time Out rating:

User ratings:

Time Out says

Mon Feb 4 2013

The Gym at Judson Church (see Off Broadway). Conceived by Tina Packer. Dir. Eric Tucker. With Packer, Nigel Gore. 2hrs 45mins. One intermission.

[Note: This is a review of Women of Will: An Overview. Packer also performs five other sections of Women of Will on some weekends. Check the show's website for details.]

This may sound bananas, but Tina Packer’s Women of Will—nearly three hours long and a slow ride at times—needs more content. It’s not a question of length but of density: This first installment of Packer’s lecture-cum-master-class is actually a prequel, the executive summary of more fleshed-out bits to come. The other five play-length parts to Women of Will will each treat one of the phases she identifies in the Bard’s developing treatment of female characters (early works see them as warrior ciphers or virginal blanks, later they become “truth-tellers”). But in this overview, Packer touches on all five stages, whizzing through her presentation, performing illustrative scenes alongside Nigel Gore and dropping mere scraps of insight. Hastiness, paradoxically, makes the show drag.

Packer has spent her life acting, directing and lecturing on Shakespeare (she founded Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, making her a hero to anyone who has dwelt in Massachusetts), so she draws on a deep well of knowledge. It is, though, frustrating that she never footnotes; there’s a breezy, nonacademic treatment of facts here, and she makes zero reference to the umpteen-thousand volumes of research and analysis done by others. There’s something wrong too with the balance between performance and lecture—her info-morsels fascinate far more than does her scenework, despite able direction by Eric Tucker. At 74, Packer still makes a lovely Rosalind—coquettish and twinkling—and you cannot overstate the infectiousness of her dirty, happy chuckle. But at the show’s long-in-coming end, her joy isn’t ours; we only know we should come back in the spring for the other parts, when she may be able to communicate it better.—Helen Shaw

Comments

Add +

Venue details

Name:
Gym at Judson
Address:
Gym at Judson 243 Thompson St
Greenwich Village
New York
10012

Cross Street:
at Washington Sq South
Phone:
212-477-0351
Website:
judson.org/the-gym
Transport:
Subway: A, C, E, B, D, F, M to W 4th St
Map
1. Gym at Judson
  - 243 Thompson St
    Greenwich Village
    New York
    10012
  - 212-477-0351
  - judson.org/the-gym

Event phone:
212-352-3101
Event website:
womenofwill.com

Categories:
Theater
Event type:
Plays & Shows

Women of Will 2013

Date Time Price information
Fri May 24

8:00pm

$75
Buy tickets

8:00pm
Sat May 25

2:00pm

$75
Buy tickets

2:00pm

8:00pm

8:00pm
Sun May 26

2:00pm

$75
Buy tickets

3:00pm

7:00pm
Wed May 29

8:00pm

$75
Buy tickets
Thu May 30

8:00pm

$75
Buy tickets
Fri May 31

8:00pm

$75
Buy tickets
Sat Jun 1

2:00pm

$75
Buy tickets

8:00pm
Sun Jun 2

3:00pm

$75
Buy tickets

Share your thoughts

Your rating
Name *
Email *
Comment *
* mandatory fields

Comments & ratings

(1 rating)

A terrific workshop and course in the plays of Shakespeare as well as a show that shook off the dust better than anything I experienced as a student. It is, I must say, long, but I loved the experience of the mix of lecture and acting--real understanding and personal experience that explores the actor's experience, the playwright's development, and the audience's opportunity--to go home and read all the plays again. Tina Packer and Nigel Gore spend so much on us at one time, I felt humbled and grateful.

Lisa O Thu Jan 31
Rated as: 5/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *

Women of Will

Time Out rating:

User ratings:

Time Out says

Venue details

Map

Women of Will 2013

Comments & ratings

Things To Do

Food & Drink

Arts & Culture

Film

Music & Nightlife

Shopping & Style

City Guide

Tickets & Offers

Site map

City links

Global links