Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – At The Public, Clubbed Thumb remounts its acclaimed production of GRIEF HOUSE by Liza Birkenmeier

• By drediman
• April 4, 2024
• No Comments

One of the highlights of last year’s Summerworks series — Clubbed Thumb’s essential summer mini-festival of adventurous new works — was Liza Birkenmeier’s Grief Hotel. Having been recognized at the Obie Awards earlier this year, the Clubbed Thumb production has been deservedly remounted (in association with New Georges) for a more substantial run at the Public Theater.

Revisiting the production, I was struck by the artful efficiency of Birkenmeier’s writing as it examines the modern anxieties of a group of friends, primarily as it relates to romance and grief. Ultimately, however, the play is about human connection, and our intrinsic need for it no matter how determined we are to operate in isolation. Although the play has lost some of its seductive mystery upon second viewing, Grief Hotel nonetheless remains high absurdist theater — it’s invariably observant and often hilarious.

The production currently at the Public is essentially a carbon copy of the one that ran at the Wild Project last summer. As before, the direction by Tara Ahmadinejad is elegantly stripped down — thankfully, more stylish than threadbare (kudos to the smart, clean work by design collective dots). As for the ensemble cast, they’re as sharp as ever, particularly Ana Nogueira and Susan Blommaert, both of whom give pointed performances that expose the nervous energy of Birkenmeier’s searching text.

RECOMMENDED

GRIEF HOUSE
Off-Broadway, Play
Clubbed Thumb at The Public Theater
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 27