Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jonathan Spector’s THIS MUCH I KNOW teases the brain in order to touch base with the soul

• By drediman
• October 1, 2025
• No Comments

Last season, playwright Jonathan Spector struck a chord with Broadway audiences with his vaccination debate play Eureka Day, which won him the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Now New York audiences can relish his latest work This Much I Know, which last night opened Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters courtesy of Washington, DC’s Theater J. Inspired by Daniel Kahneman’s bestseller Thinking, Fast and Slow, Spector’s new work is a meaty and expansive theatrical creation whose intellectual ambitions rival those of a Tom Stoppard play. In short, this puzzle of a play follows three interconnected narratives — a psychology professor’s attempt to rationalize with a white supremacist student, his wife’s obsession with uncovering the truth about her family, and a chronicle of the life of Stalin’s daughter Svetlana.

Although these three “stories” only brush up against each other, their goals are consistent — which is to no less than demonstrate the workings of the human mind. In doing so, Spector endeavors to reveal the soul. Largely, he succeeds, which is a testament to the meticulous care he has taken to comprehensively take into account the complexities of human behavior. Suffice to say, the playwright doesn’t take the easy road by simply showing us human emotions — he gets to them by way of intense cerebral interrogations. Although some theatergoers may find the play a tad too conceptual and knotted — with its various threads vying for attention with breathtaking frequency — the rewards of leaning in and piecing things together in your mind are considerable.

It’s hard to believe that such a play requires only three actors, each of whom must snap into a bevy of roles with precision. Thankfully, the trio of performances are skillful and expertly calibrated, keeping the play accelerating forward at a taut pace. The fine actor Firdous Bamji brings warmth and immense intellectual curiosity to his primary portrayal of the professor Lukesh. As both his troubled wife and Svetlana, Dani Stoller brings notable gravitas to every scene she’s in. But perhaps the most effective shape-shifter of the three is Ethan J. Miller, who all but disappears into every role he’s tasked to play. Much of the production’s success must also be attributed to director Hayley Finn’s efficient yet theatrical staging, which takes place on scenic designer Misha Kachman’s ingenious Rubik’s Cube-like set.

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THIS MUCH I KNOW
Off-Broadway, Play
Theater J / 59E59 Theaters
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through October 19