“This is a writer whose intuitive understanding of the common threads of tradition, globalization and human instinct could very well create a new mythological tapestry for our interwoven times.”
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"3/5 Stars. A talented cast of seven works hard to activate this imaginative but inscrutable tale, which is often relayed in long passages of narration delivered directly to the audience. There are striking moments...Yet 'The Half-God of Rainfall' is challenging to follow: Ellams' lyrical epic is easier to parse on the page than the stage. It is many, perhaps too many, fables in one."
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“It is Modúpé’s pain and power that leads the story to a climax...The stilted dialogue threatens to undercut ’Half-God’s’ impact, but Magar’s production is too beautiful to be held down for long.”
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“The smaller scale of human action and character gets lost amid the grand sweep of mythology and language...A divine battle scene, heavily narrated, comes a little too close to resembling Live-Action Role Play.”
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“ ‘The Half-God of Rainfall’ is at once an entertainment and a lesson, and that’s exactly what an epic poem should be.”
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“Magar's staging has many moments of invention…But one leaves the theatre remembering the staging and design, not the story and characters. The Half-God of Rainfall is, in many ways, an impressive theatrical frieze, but its figures never quicken into compelling characters. For gods, they remain strangely powerless.”
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“ ‘The Half-God of Rainfall’ is tangentially about basketball, but like the other basketball-inspired plays from this season...one does not need to be a fan or even knowledgeable of the sport. In Ellams's imagination, power, subjugation, and tactical gamesmanship plays out in a much bigger arena.”
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“It’s definitely a staged work the likes of which you might have seen something similar in your theater-going past. Yet, it’s safe to say you haven’t seen its exact like before. This already makes it well worth seeing.”
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