"Blain-Cruz’s high-gloss minimalist production makes a great deal of sense moment by moment but cannot seem to accrete meaning and value as the story keeps lurching around...And the actors, called upon to switch gears constantly, have a similar problem maintaining credible characters. Boone keeps enough in reserve to smooth over the role’s inconsistencies, but Socha is stuck making hairpin turns on unmarked roads. To say she doesn’t crash is high praise."
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"Director Blain-Cruz and her two sharp actors infuse this talky piece with energy and urgency, and Ziegler’s meticulously detailed script is more than occasionally funny, despite its serious themes. As Amber and Tom unravel the knotty threads of their fateful interaction on an unadorned stage, our sympathies are repeatedly tested. 'Actually’s' subject is politically charged, but its focus is squarely on the human beings behind the headlines."
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“Ziegler’s taut, devastating new play, directed with a deft, unsparing sense of forward motion...A smart, profoundly painful exploration of the murky, treacherous sexual culture this country is mired in...‘Actually’s’ wit and its intelligence are part of what makes the complex darkness at its center hit so hard. There is brightness in this play, and in these people, and to see its sparks overwhelmed by such fearful and familiar shadows is shattering. In moments, it’s even revelatory.”
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“Blain-Cruz’s exquisite staging underscores Ziegler’s devotion to a kind of dramatic fair play...Absent stacking of the deck against either Amber or Tom, they emerge as complicated young people determined not to let their ambiguities undermine their conviction about what happened that night. Understanding all that is what gives the terrific actors a dreamlike power in which a gauzy truth gradually and painfully comes into sharp relief.”
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"It's a compelling and provocative subject whose dramatic potential is only fitfully realized in this talky effort, consisting largely of monologues...It's a technique often used by the playwright...But here it feels lazy...It's in the infrequent instances when the characters do interact that ‘Actually’ actually clicks...Despite its stylistic drawbacks...the play feels incisive and smartly observed. As superbly played by Boone and Socha, the characters register as sympathetic figures."
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"A gripping portrait of campus rape that frustratingly misses the wood for the trees...Impressively, Ziegler has created what feels like real individuals in Amber and Tom, something that comes across clearly in Socha and Boone's layered performances...Unfortunately, in devoting much of the play's energy to developing nuanced characters, Ziegler glosses over some crucial questions...I didn't leave conflicted, but sad: ‘Actually’ isn't really a reevaluation, but a reminder."
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“Ziegler’s absorbing and thought-provoking new drama...There's a surprising amount of character-driven humor; the kind that deals with the normal anxieties...without ever undercutting the seriousness of the situation...The major strength of Ziegler's storytelling is that she seems less concerned with having viewers take sides than she is with having us feel the mutual tragedy of the situation and be more concerned with discussing how such matters can be prevented.”
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“Ziegler keeps turning the screw, adding details that constantly force us to revise our opinions of the characters...Under the sure directorial hand of Blain-Cruz, neither Boone nor Socha tips the author's hand, presenting each character's argument without fear or favor and leaving us to puzzle out for ourselves the truth...The staging is as lean and swift as the writing."
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