"'The Naturalists' is a play that takes its time, in ways that are more and less successful. It’s also a play about time and about how change can happen very slowly and then very quickly...This is theater and we know this idyll can’t last. The anticipation of the crisis is agonizing...But the play and its desultory rhythms are a gift to its actors...The way each of them sustains the others is a thing as beautiful as any of Francis’s redwoods or violets."
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“McCarrick's play builds ambience with every word. The characters are definitive and haunted. When they share secrets or observations, it's just enough to feel satisfying yet realistic. The plot gets slightly muddied in the middle, but...no moment feels out of place...The performers feed off of the rich text, bringing to life characters who are at once charming yet natural...‘The Naturalists’ is both quiet and loud, a lovely tale of making peace.”
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"The play before us is a slightly strange thing, suffering from a pronounced case of split personality. So opposed are the moods of its two acts that at times it's like seeing two separate -- and diametrically opposed -- dramatic works. Cognitive dissonance, rather than spellbinding, is the order of the day...If McCarrick could liven up the first act and tone down the second, 'The Naturalists' would be far more coherent. Still, it is striking enough."
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“The performances at least are sincere...Unfortunately, between the Irish accents and everyone’s efforts to speak naturally, at times it is difficult to comprehend what anybody is saying...The fatal error is choosing to produce McCarrick’s faulty play, which initially holds some charm but eventually implodes. In addition to its significant motivation issues for the characters, the plot is overloaded with excessive back-stories...The characters talk on and on and on."
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"A tender character study of a spirited young woman becoming the housekeeper for two troubled middle-aged brothers devolves into a clumsy hostage drama...Staging has steadiness and simplicity which serves most of the play well, particularly in the outdoor sequences that convey an awe of nature. Julie Voshell’s choreography enlivens the occasional dances between the characters...With fine tuning of its writing and staging, it could very well more cohesively succeed."
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McCarrick's world premiere play is bursting with love and light...and hilarious dark comedy...‘The Naturalists’ is about being open-minded and diligent in pursuit of love and redemption...It's also very funny...Rarely is nature's power to heal and draw people together so well-represented onstage, and with such humor—a real triumph for the cast, writer, and director. ‘The Naturalists’ is sure to remind you of something you'd forgotten about selfless love for folks around you, and the planet.”
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"Much of the finesse of Jaki McCarrick’s script is in the loaded, telling silences her characters share. I would argue the first act is indulgently long, but I wouldn’t trim the silences...This is fresh and authentic theater. The direction is deft. The characters capture you quickly; you never doubt them. The script is a glimpse of a moment fraught with all the breakage engendered in the Troubles before, all the specific damage visited on these four people, and all the slim hopes of redemption."
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"This new play set in contemporary Ireland offers some moments of beautifully written prose and a carefully calibrated central performance. However, the production suffers from too much muted naturalism in the direction at the expense of legibility...It’s an interesting setting, with a fascinating character at its core. But the understated execution of the production can leave us drifting far too frequently."
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