“ ‘Daphne’ is so good at creating a sense of its main characters’ insularity that the production also feels confining, stuck within a set of indecipherable metaphors. But unlike Daphne, who is transformed by the end of this 90-minute contemporary myth, we’re left exactly as we arrived.”
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“Jarrett and director Sarah Hughes weave other surreal elements into the play...But these touches don’t add up to a cohesive alternate reality; they merely seem bizarre. One wishes ‘Daphne’ went all in and embraced its mythological roots.”
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“Though appropriate to how memories and reality warp and fade in an abusive situation, these gaps make ’Daphne’ fairly thin. But the show ends on a note of hope, if a bittersweet one, that such a situation can, too, eventually fade into a mere memory.”
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“ ‘Daphne’ is suffused with, and is about, specifically female kinds of fear.”
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“Jarrett infuses a lot of themes into this shapeshifting plot — too many to deal with adequately in a 90-minute play...That’s a shame because Jarrett’s story does have the potential to captivate with its weirdness, complexity, and surprising tenderness if only it were treated with a lighter touch. In its present state, however, Daphne comes off as a wooden affair.”
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“Indeed, the play could be said to be all about fear and dread, a case of style taking precedence over substance. It is likely you will never fully unravel its mysteries, but if you can live with that, there is enough to keep you intrigued if off balance for pretty much the entirety of its 90-minute running time, during which uncertainty will be your constant companion.”
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“I was at such a loss with ‘Daphne’ that I tried to convince myself there was something I was missing others were getting. It’s often suggested that while men are linear thinkers, women are not. I wondered if that explained my falling short of understanding Jarrett’s observation of in-extremis women. “
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“ ‘Daphne’ is a haunting tale of a love, nature, and the cost that often comes with truly escaping. It haunts in its relatability, and in what it leaves unsaid. Do not expect to find a bow tied around this piece; don’t expect a nice, clean play; but do expect to be goose pimpled, unnerved, and to leave pondering the piece’s humanity, magic, whimsy, and message.”
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