Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Julia Izumi’s surreal family drama REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE gets lost in maze of its own absurdity

• By drediman
• April 14, 2023
• No Comments

Earlier this week, Regretfully, So the Birds Are by Julia Izumi opened Off-Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater courtesy of Playwrights Horizons and WP Theater. Essentially a family drama, the play uses extreme absurdism to explore Asian American identity and the perils of endeavoring to uncover one’s origins.

The play comes on the heels of another surreal Playwrights Horizons production, The Trees by Agnes Borinsky. I found the quirkiness of that play endearing, and its depiction of siblingship and community heartening. Although the Regretfully, So the Birds are covers relatively similar thematic territory, the play gets lost in the maze of its own absurdity, muddling the playwright’s musings instead of illuminating them.

Despite my reservations about the play itself, there’s no denying the commitment of the cast (it was particularly fun to see the distinctive and hilarious Kristine Nielson onstage once again), which leans in on wackiness of Izumi’s flights of fancy. The co-production has been directed by Jenny Koons, who fails to bring cohesion to the self-contradictory, haphazard work.

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REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE
Off-Broadway, Play
Playwrights Horizons
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 30