★★★☆☆ Alan Ayckbourn’s 81st is short on substance and long on style, but nevertheless a treat for his fans
Off-Broadway
Henry V: Once More Unto the Breach
★★★★☆ The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit strips down the band-of-brothers play to a slick 105 minutes
Transfers: Two Bronx Guys Level Their Eyes On a Prize
★★★☆☆ Lucy Thurber’s latest drama contrasts a couple of disadvantaged students who aim for a better life
Transfers: Who Gets In, and Who Belongs?
★★★☆☆ In Lucy Thurber’s look at college admissions and social class, the hard-working students don’t get what they deserve
The Metromaniacs: David Ives Tickles a Rhyming French Mini-Classic
★★★☆☆ Alexis Prion is the now-all-but-forgotten comic writer whose spoof is reworked
The Metromaniacs: David Ives’ Latest Shows It’s All in the Rhyming
★★★☆☆ A French antique is smartly refinished by David Ives, but gets tarnished by its express delivery
The Seafarer: Matthew Broderick Plays a Wicked Game of Cards
★★★★☆ A diabolical visitor encounters amazing grace in Conor McPherson’s supernatural Irish drama
The Seafarer: Conor McPherson’s Tense Drinking, Soul-Searching Tale
★★★★☆ Matthew Broderick heads an expert ensemble is this realistic-surrealistic drama
Mlima’s Tale: A Monumental New Play by Lynn Nottage
★★★★★ The award-winning playwright delivers a masterwork about ivory trafficking—and much more.
Mlima’s Tale: Lynn Nottage Incarnates the Ivory Trade with Cruel Irony
★★★★☆ An imaginative quasi-documentary sees an elephant’s precious tusks pass through a chain of ivory traffickers