Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Identity-blurring solo shows to catch: David Greenspan in WITHOUT MIRRORS, Sean Hayes in THE UNKNOWN

• By drediman
• March 1, 2026
• No Comments

Currently on the boards, I encourage you to check out a pair of intriguing and alluring solo shows that blur the identities of their narrators. Indeed, by the end of each of these shows, I was l left with the feeling that I knew less about them than I did at the beginning of their respective tales. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

WITHOUT MIRRORS
The Brick
Through March 14

Earlier this week, I trekked out to The Brick in Williamsburg to delve into Third Ear Theater Company’s presentation of without mirrors (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), a new solo show by Jerry Lieblich. Compact and poetic, the hourlong piece is clearly a descendant of the stark, text-driven existential theatrical creations of Samuel Beckett, particularly more abstract works like Not I and All that Fall. The production stars legendary downtown actor David Greenspan, a six-time OBIE-winner (I still recall in detail his astonishing one-man turn in Eugene O’Neill’s massive play Strange Interlude), as a nameless man in a chair who starts questioning quite literally everything — namely his identity and the notion of consciousness, that very fabric of human life. Suffice to say, Greenspan — a national treasure — was spellbinding, as was Lieblich’s shadowy, exquisitely-designed production (the pristine creation of set and lighting designer Kate McGee, as well as sound designer Johnny Gasper), which drops the audience right into the hyper-active mind of our uncertain protagonist, a particularly immersive feat in The Brick’s extremely tight quarters. Thankfully, the show commences with a helpful introduction to the playwright’s line of thinking for his play, which strikes me more as a series of inquiries — using snippets of phrases and concepts as textual building blocks that are assembled and re-assembled so as to create cascading waves of fractured poetry — rather than an absolute statement. With his masterful delivery and magnetic presence, Greenspan attacks the dense work with Olympian skill and commitment. It’s quite the sight to behold.

THE UNKNOWN
Studio Seaview
Through April 12

Master storyteller David Cale riveted me earlier this season with his gently exquisite solo show Blue Cowboy, which he both wrote and starred in. As a follow-up, Cale has penned a more chilling companion piece entitled The Unknown (RECOMMENDED), another work featuring a gay writer with a severe case of writer’s block who gets caught up in inexplicable and unsettling situations. More specifically, the one man play currently running at Studio Seaview — this one starring box office draw Sean Hayes (a Tony-winner who is perhaps best known as Jack in Will & Grace) — is a psychological thriller about a writer on the edge whose latest screenplay is dictated by his unhealthy ongoing relationship and fascination with a mentally unstable actor who has been stalking him (while watching the show, I was at times reminded of Passion, particularly Tosca’s unrelenting obsession that drives the Stephen Sondheim musical). Although a part of me missed the mystical catharsis and affecting romance so central to Blue Cowboy — as well as Cale’s genuine affability and unparalleled storytelling prowess — his latest is nonetheless an elegantly constructed drama that hits its marks. Overall, Hayes gives a gripping performance, doing a commendable job narrating and distinctly playing all the characters, all the while maintaining an overarching sense of narrative momentum. In a superficial sense, parallels can be drawn between the aforementioned without mirrors and The Unknown — both are shrouded in shadows and mystery and feature a protagonist whose sense of reality is increasingly blurred. Although the latter is ultimately far less abstract and close-ended, veteran director Leigh Silverman does an effective job of conjuring tension and enigma throughout.