The Flick

The Flick
Written by Annie Baker
Date premiered March 12, 2013
Place premiered Playwrights Horizons
New York City
Original language English

The Flick is a play by Annie Baker that received the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won the 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting.[1][2] The Flick premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2013.

Productions

The Flick debuted Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on March 12, 2013, after previews from February 15, 2013. Sam Gold directed a cast featuring Alex Hanna (Skylar/The Dreaming Man), Louisa Krause (Rose), Matthew Maher (Sam), and Aaron Clifton Moten (Avery). Scenery and costumes were designed by David Zinn. Lighting was fashioned by Jane Cox; sound by Bray Poor.[3] Baker received a Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Commission, and the Steinberg Playwright Award.[4] The play closed on April 7, 2013.[5][6]

After it won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a remounting of the play was announced for the Off-Broadway Barrow Street Theatre, though dates had not yet then been determined. The production was expected to use the original cast, providing they were available.[7] The play opened at the Barrow Street Theatre with previews starting on May 5, 2015 and the official opening on May 18, with the original cast and creatives.[8] A new cast began on September 1, 2015, featuring Kyle Beltran (Avery), Danny Wolohan (Sam), Brian Miskell (Skylar/The Dreaming Man) and Nicole Rodenburg (Rose).[9] The play closed on January 10, 2016.[10]

The play premiered in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company beginning February 4, 2016 to May 8.[11]

The play opened on March 1, 2016, and ran to April 24, 2016 at the Signature Theatre in Shirlington, Virginia with Evan Casey (Sam), Laura C Harris (Rose), Thaddeus McCants (Avery), and William Vaughan (Dreaming Man/Skylar), and directed by Joe Calarco.[12]

The play was presented in London at the National Theatre, officially opening on April 19, 2016, following previews from April 13. The show closed June 15, 2016. Directed by Sam Gold, the cast featured Jaygann Ayeh, Sam Heron, Louisa Krause and Matthew Maher.[13]

Overview

The Flick is set in a run down movie palace in Worcester, Massachusetts and follows three underpaid movie ushers, Avery, Sam and Rose (who also runs the film projector) who do the humdrum and tedious labor necessary for keeping it running, including toiling to clean spilled soda from the floors. The show is a comedy of the mundane delivered in bits of conversation that might be considered insignificant.[2] Sam Gold said Baker's comedic writing was cleverly and surprisingly understated. Gold added that rhythm, meter and pace of the dialog were cardinal to the comedy.[14] Running three hours,[15] the show has received complaints regarding its length.[16] While recognizing the dissonance, Playwrights Horizons artistic director Tim Sanford sent a letter to some subscribers, acknowledging the concern, but finding it outweighed by the praise of others. He concluded there was no need to edit the play down.[17]

Critical response

StageGrade gives a median critics' rating for The Flick of B+ based on 22 reviews. Despite doubts about the play's length, the characters are said to be rich and the dialogue nuanced and entertaining. The lack of traditional theatricality is seen by some as a strength, and a weakness by others.[18]

Charles Isherwood, reviewing for The New York Times described Baker as one of the most impressive dramatists from the Off-Broadway scene of her generation and noted that she "writes with tenderness and keen insight".[19]

John Del Signore, reviewing the play in Gothamist, praised Baker "for capturing the halting, self-conscious vernacular of cerebral yet underachieving twenty-something suburbanites".[20] Although Del Signore noted that the significance of some of the elements of Baker's presentation were challenging to summarize, he noted that "[T]he three misfits blunder in and out of each other's isolated bubbles, making contact in any way they can to alleviate the oppressive drudgery of their tasks."[20]

Jesse Green acknowledged the need for brevity and clarity in his review for New York, and wrote:

No one does anything generally regarded as theatrical. ... So what does happen in The Flick? A lot of sweeping and mopping of the floor of a grotty old movie house near Worcester, Massachusetts. Also the tenderest drama—funny, heartbreaking, sly, and unblinking—now playing at a theater near you. ... It's uncanny; rarely has so much feeling been mined from so little content. Something's lost in the process, of course: brevity.[21]

In a Playbill article, Robert Simonson noted that despite its irksome lengthy, static actionlessness to some viewers the show was a splendid theatrical experience for serious theatregoers that wowed them with "existential minutiae" as presented by three performers who brought the themes to life.[16]

Awards and nominations

The play won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; the Pulitzer committee stated that the play is a "thoughtful drama with well-crafted characters that focuses on three employees of a Massachusetts art-house movie theatre, rendering lives rarely seen on the stage."[2]

Baker was awarded the 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting for this play.[1][22] The play received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Aaron Clifton Moten) and Outstanding Set Design.[23] The play received 2013 Lortel Award nominations for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Director (Sam Gold), Outstanding Lighting Design (Jane Cox) and Outstanding Sound Design (Bray Poor).[24]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Gans, Andrew (May 20, 2013). "'Detroit', 'Grimly Handsome', Eisa Davis, John Rando, Shuler Hensley and More Are Obie Winners". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Gans, Andrew (April 14, 2014). "Annie Baker's 'The Flick' Wins 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  3. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (February 15, 2013). "Annie Baker's 'The Flick', a Tale of Movie-House Workers, Begins World-Premiere Run in NYC". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  4. ↑ Purcell, Carey (October 2, 2013). "Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph Honored With Steinberg Playwright "Mimi" Awards". Playbill. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ "'The Flick', 2013" lortel.org, accessed October 7, 2015
  6. ↑ "'The Flick' at Playwrights Horizons" playwrightshorizons.org, accessed October 7, 2015
  7. ↑ Healy, Patrick (April 14, 2014). "Pulitzer-Winning Play 'The Flick' to Reopen in New York". New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  8. ↑ Clement, Olivia and Viagas, Robert. "Pulitzer Winner 'The Flick' Returns Off-Broadway Tonight With Original Cast", Playbill, May 5, 2015
  9. ↑ Viagas, Robert. "New Cast Announced for Off-Broadway Production of Pulitzer Winner The Flick" Playbill, August 25, 2015
  10. ↑ Clement, Olivia. "Pulitzer Winner 'The Flick' Closes Off-Broadway Today" playbill.com, January 10, 2016
  11. ↑ Clement, Olivia (March 4, 2016). "World Premiere by August: Osage County Author Slated for New Steppenwolf Season". Playbill. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  12. ↑ The Flick sigtheater.org
  13. ↑ Simoes, Monica. "First Look at Annie Baker's 'The Flick' in London" Playbill, April 19, 2016
  14. ↑ Wallenberg, Christopher (February 20, 2014). "The sound of silence imbues 'The Flick'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  15. ↑ Rooney, David (April 14, 2014). "Annie Baker's 'The Flick' Wins 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  16. 1 2 Simonson, Robert (December 21, 2013). "The Year's Best: Playbill Contributors Choose Unforgettable Theatre Experiences of 2013". Playbill. Playbill. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  17. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (March 26, 2013). "Power of the Pause in Annie Baker's The Flick Inspires a Letter From Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director". Playbill. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  18. ↑ "The Flick". StageGrade. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  19. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (March 12, 2013). "Theater review. 'The Flick,' by Annie Baker, at Playwrights Horizons". The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2014.(subscription required)
  20. 1 2 Del Signore, John (March 31, 2013). "Theater Review: 'The Flick'". Gothamist. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  21. ↑ Green, Jesse (March 13, 2013). "Theater Review: 'The Flick' and 'The Lying Lesson'". Vulture. New York. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  22. ↑ Gioia, Michael (March 18, 2013). "Annie Baker Wins 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  23. ↑ Gans, Andrew (April 29, 2013). "Nominations Announced for 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards; Giant and Hands on a Hardbody Lead the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  24. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (April 3, 2013). "Lucille Lortel Nominees Include 'The Flick', 'Murder Ballad', Jake Gyllenhaal, Vanessa Redgrave". Playbill. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
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