"Bracingly topical...Though it is steeped in social combustibility, 'Sweat' often feels too conscientiously assembled, a point-counterpoint presentation in which every disaffected voice is allowed its how-I-got-this-way monologue...'Sweat' is best at its muddiest, when love and hate, and the urges to strike out and to comfort, teeter in precipitous balance. That’s when Ms. Nottage’s characters, and the cast members who embody them, emerge in their full tragic humanity."
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"Nottage’s passionate and necessary drama is a masterful depiction of the forces that divide and conquer us...Director Kate Whoriskey’s fluid and propulsive staging benefits from an excellent cast led by the fearless triad of Johanna Day, Michelle Wilson and Alison Wright...'Sweat' communicates its points with minimal fuss and maximum grit. Along with the rage, despair and violence, there's humor and abundant humanity."
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"A worthy attempt to put serious material before a wider public...What it isn’t, I’m sorry to say, is a great play; though improved in some ways, it remains pretty much as I found it downtown: gripping but disappointing...There’s a checklist quality to the dramaturgy that begins to feel obligatory...Great drama takes place in the space between people. The interplay of ideas can of course be a part of that, but only a part. Characters aren’t pundits, and plots aren’t treatises."
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"Ferociously engrossing...'Sweat' never feels less than authentic — and crucial. That said, 'Sweat' still suffers from preachiness and some stilted writing that raise the volume and add exclamation points where none are necessary. This seems to have worsened in the expansion to a Broadway house, where the speechifying too often registers as harangue...These are not inconsequential flaws, but timeliness and Nottage’s uncommon empathy for each of these characters ultimately prevail."
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"The play grabs you with its ripped-from-the-headlines social and political resonance. It also loses its grip due to predictability and a miscalibrated staging...It is not a pretty picture. But it is as straight-up and real as it gets. Too bad performances frequently don’t ring true in director Kate Whoriskey’s staging. Too often actors don't look and sound like people talking, but performers emoting. It becomes distracting and pulls you out of the story."
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"Nottage bottles a flammable brand of white working-class resentment and spills it, in its superheated state, all over the stage. Audiences will readily recognize the vitriol unleashed in Nottage’s timely if too plodding drama...Its best moments anatomize the friendship among three women in the plant. How their camaraderie disintegrates is a far more nuanced bit of storytelling than the standard-issue crime-procedural track that 'Sweat' ultimately shifts onto."
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"Inarguably a schematic socialist drama that clearly decided in advance what it wanted to say about the state of the nation. Its conclusion is not a surprise. But—and, along with a mordant wit, this is its mitigating strength and greatest asset—'Sweat' also is a moral, passionate and richly articulated cri de coeur from one of America's leading African-American playwrights...'Sweat,' which is performed with relentless commitment and respect, feels very much of the moment."
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"A compelling new play...'Sweat' is a fascinating study of class and opportunity, or lack thereof...'Sweat' features a truly remarkable ensemble and it’s a struggle to take your eyes off any one of its layered characters. Far timelier now than when it debuted at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival back in 2015, 'Sweat' offers a heartbreaking glimpse into the domino effect of what happens when life as you know it is pulled out from under you."
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