Theater review by Billy McEntee
Rating: Not recommended
Ticketing: Buy tickets here
Looking at the living room onstage in The Unbelievers, you may sense that it feels off. The fireplace, wooden table and upright piano of Paul Steinberg’s set evoke a home, but there are no photographs or knickknacks, no centerpiece on the table: Something or someone seems missing. And that turns out to be true in Nick Payne’s drama, which arrives at Manhattan Theatre Club after a successful run in London. A young boy has disappeared, leaving his family desperate for answers—especially his mother, Miriam, who is played by an unflagging Lauren Ambrose. Her laserlike focus on finding the truth cuts through an otherwise stilted and overwrought play.
The Unbelievers | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
Ambrose is no stranger to stories about mourning; she spent six years on HBO’s funeral-home drama Six Feet Under, which unearthed the beautiful everyday in facing the reality of death. But Miriam’s grief is open-ended, and after seven years of fruitless hoping, everyday life becomes intolerable—especially when everyone around her seems to be moving on. Miriam’s husband (Tom Riley) takes a new partner; her eldest child (Nina Ross) begins a music career, and her youngest (Elizabeth Yeoman) gets pregnant with her new boyfriend (Jack DiFalco). Miriam says she feels like “a pool,” and Ambrose asks us to meet her in the deep end.
The Unbelievers | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
To the anguished Miriam, these new life phases feel like betrayals to the son and brother who remains stuck in time. The reliable director Knud Adams delivers a typically seamless production in which scenes (and days) evaporate even as new ones take shape; this creates a blur of debilitating sameness for Miriam, but Ambrose imbues each passing moment with wonderful texture and depth.
The Unbelievers | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
But even as the play jumps around in time—and takes its sweet time doing so, at nearly two intermissionless hours—it struggles to develop its secondary characters beyond single notes. Their lack of depth makes it hard for The Unbelievers to sustain our belief. Despite Ambrose’s formidable performance, something seems missing.
The Unbelievers. Manhattan Theatre Club (Off Broadway). By Nick Payne. Directed by Knud Adams. With Lauren Ambrose, Jaspal Binning, Brittany Bradford, Jack DiFalco, Marjan Neshat, Tom Riley, Nina Ross, Hadi Tabbal, Elizabeth Yeoman. Running time: 1hrs 50mins. No intermission.
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The Unbelievers | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
The always compelling Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) returns to the stage in a new play by Nick Payne (Constellations) that premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre last year. Ambrose plays the increasingly unhinged mother of a teenage boy who has disappeared; the supporting cast includes Tom Riley and Hadi Tabbal as her two ex-husbands and Nina Ross and Elizabeth Yeoman as her daughters. Knud Adams (English) directs the American premiere for Manhattan Theatre Club.
The Unbelievers | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
The always compelling Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) returns to the stage in a new play by Nick Payne (Constellations) that premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre last year. Ambrose plays the increasingly unhinged mother of a teenage boy who has disappeared; the supporting cast includes Tom Riley and Hadi Tabbal as her two ex-husbands and Nina Ross and Elizabeth Yeoman as her daughters. Knud Adams (English) directs the American premiere for Manhattan Theatre Club.
