VIEWPOINTS – London dramas take on new life Off-Broadway: The American premieres of John Donnelly’s THE PASS and Andrew Stein’s DISRUPTION

One of the best ways to get out of the August heat and humidity is to escape into one of the city’s womb-like, air-conditioned theaters to catch a new play or two. This week, I did exactly that by taking in a pair American premiere productions — John Donnelly’s The Pass at La MaMa and Hersh Ellis’s Disruption at the Pershing Square Signature Center — a pair of plays that have enjoyed modest success across the pond in London that have now found new life Off-Broadway. As always, read on for my thoughts.

Matisse Ratron-Neal and Terry Bell in The Max Hunter Company’s production of “The Pass” by John Donnelly at La MaMa (photo by Andy Henderson).

THE PASS
La MaMa
Through September 4

Over at La MaMa in the East Village, you’ll find the American premiere of John Donnelly’s The Pass (RECOMMENDED). As a cynical, arguably more realistic precursor to Heated Rivalry, the work explores the notions of veiled homosexuality, high pressure competitiveness, and the high price of fame in elite professional sports, namely the world of international soccer. Suffice to say, unlike the aforementioned hit television series about star-crossed hockey players, things don’t turn out well for the two young potential lovers at the center of Donnelly’s regularly gripping play. The piece was originally seen more than a decade ago in 2014 at London’s Royal Court Theatre — a renowned hotbed for new playwriting — helping catapult its young lead Russell Tovey further into stardom (the play was turned into a film by Netflix in 2016, also starring Tovey). Since then, many things have changed, especially in terms of societal perceptions of homosexuality in male athletics. Under our current administration, the work almost comes across as a cautionary tale not to let things regress back to the toxicity of days gone by. Made up of three taut segments housed within a single act, the play is often astute in its observations of its characters’ mental states across various dramatic situations in hotel rooms across the globe. The Pass is less compelling in its depiction of the genuine affection between the two soccer players. In fact, unlike Heated Rivalry, not once does the playwright show us a genuinely tender moment between the two, which makes the play’s late revelation hard to swallow (now spoilers here). Despite my slight misgivings, the performances by the quartet of actors are highly physical and consistently fearless — to boot, their accents are spot-on to my ears — particularly Matisse Ratron-Neal in the central role of an emotionally stunted and conflicted athlete who rises to superstardom. Far more empathetic and genuinely playful is Terry Bell’s turn, which balances out the brutality of their rocky so-called “relationship”.

John David Washington and Conrad Ricamora in “Disruption” by Andrew Stein at the Pershing Square Signature Center (photo by Emilio Madrid).

DISRUPTION
Pershing Square Signature Center
Through October 4

Concurrently running uptown is Andrew Stein’s Disruption (RECOMMENDED), which has settled in for a lengthy commercial run through October 4th at the Pershing Square Signature Center. In short, the play teases out the prospect of the evolution of the current algorithms that imperceptibly shape our lives, imagining the insidious potential of the conflation of artificial intelligence and big data. As told through the eyes of four longtime friends and their spouses — each of whom are given the opportunity to invest seed money in an A.I. life guide product — the work plays out like your typical Black Mirror episode, neatly plotting out their respective trajectories, which are manipulated by the machinations of higher forces beyond corporate greed (no spoilers here). Although the speculative aspects of Stein’s play — a cynical investigation of our increasing reliance on technology, resulting in our gradual dehumanization — are thought-provoking, it’s not a totally convincing “what if” thought exercise that tells us anything we didn’t already know. Instead, Disruption is at its most compelling as a collection of character studies, particularly in the way it exposes the pettiness that muddles much of our lives. As directed by Hersh Ellis, who also originally directed the play in London at the Park Theatre in 2023, the play unfolds sleekly in what is essentially a shiny black box — smartly designed by  Zoë Hurwitz with the capability of showcasing Yana Biryükova’s suggestive projections — surrounded on two sides by audience members (in fact, the same configuration is used in The Pass at La MaMa). For the current New York run, a company of highly accomplished actors — including the likes of recognizable veterans such as Conrad Ricamora and Elizabeth Stanely, both previously Tony-nominated — has been assembled. Despite their individual successes, I’m happy to report that they work well together as an ensemble, moving the play forward with grace, tension, and individuality.

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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