Did Theresa Rebeck's New Play Push Critics to the Edge?

Prolific playwright Theresa Rebeck is back with The Water's Edge, which opened at Second Stage Theater on June 14. In the play, Tony Goldwyn portrays Richard, a man who attempts to reconnect with a family from which he has been long-estranged. The reunion is complicated by the fact that his ex-wife Helene Kate Burton believes he is responsible for a past tragedy. Did this all sound Greek to critics?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Rob Kendt in his Broadway.com Review: "Under the even-keeled rhythm set by director Will Frears, the mild squabbles that unfold between Richard, his family and his unfortunate girlfriend may have the pleasant, low-impact irritability of situation comedy. But in its final, implausible scene, The Water's Edge abruptly goes bonkers, throwing everything that came before into question, though not exactly into the cold, illuminating relief intended."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "In a bold surgical endeavor that recalls the experiments of the mad Dr. Frankenstein, Theresa Rebeck has tried to transplant the big, blood-gorged heart of a Greek tragedy into the slender body of a modest American comic drama. The resulting self-sabotaging hybrid is called The Water's Edge, and it is quietly running amok in a stylishly acted production… This bizarre offering from the talented Ms. Rebeck harks to the days when the announcement 'Daddy's home' really meant something. And I don't mean the happy family television comedies of the 1950's and 60's, like Father Knows Best. The model for The Water's Edge is a few thousand years older than that. Imagine, if you dare, Aeschylus's Agamemnon, the tale of the disastrous return of an arrogant king to his family after the Trojan War, reconceived as a blithe contemporary mini-series for HBO."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Tempted as you may be to leave after the first act of The Water's Edge, by doing so you'll miss one of the more ludicrous plot twists currently found on a New York stage…. For the first act, the play treads highly familiar ground… [What happens in Act I] pales in comparison to the surprises the playwright has in store for Act 2, which includes a nude scene for the still-buff Goldwyn and an ending of Grand Guignol proportions. Unfortunately, none of this is remotely credible… Under the direction of Will Frears, the performers don't fully succeed in overcoming their characters' stereotypical attributes. Burton comes off best."

Joe Dziemianowicz of The New York Daily News: "Rebeck echoes the tragedy of Agamemnon, a saga swirling in everything from death and guilt to betrayal and vengeance. Unfortunately, what she's come up with is a soggy, sometimes illogical domestic drama that takes a hard turn to dark deeds in the second act… Burton, a seasoned stage star, delivers a solid performance and even manages to stay credible after her character goes over the edge in a mad stab at justice. Goldwyn, meanwhile, can't help sounding somewhat stilted delivering Rebeck's weirdly puncuated lines: 'The trees. Are like old men. Aren't they?'"

David Rooney of Variety: "It may be best to disregard The Water's Edge, Rebeck's imbalanced reworking of The Oresteia, which shanghais a strong cast led by the ever-admirable Kate Burton and squanders Will Frears' smooth staging. An absorbing domestic drama in act one, the misconceived play goes off the rails as it veers into high-Greek mode in act two… While there's no creature from the black lagoon or even a Freddy or Jason on hand, the mayhem unleashed by the playwright is no more rooted in credibility… Smart, often dryly humorous dialogue keeps the play watchable, but the writing is steadily undermined by the characters' inconsistent behavior."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "This misguided, modern-day effort makes for unconvincing fireworks despite a solid cast headed by Kate Burton and Tony Goldwyn… Awkwardness and anger permeate the conversations, which doesn't give Rebeck much room to maneuver dramatically. The recriminations eventually grow tedious, despite the valiant efforts of both Burton and Goldwyn… Director Will Frears moves the action along at a reasonable pace, but he is unable to disguise the fact that The Water's Edge is a combative, yet strangely static evening—a play that can't withstand its elevation to unlikely full-blown tragedy."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "The Water's Edge attempts to be a shocking hybrid of contemporary drama and Greek tragedy, but betrays both of its worlds. For about three-quarters of the two-hour evening, it is a domestic soaper with comic underpinnings. The play has an improbable setup, arch dialogue and a tendency to spell out too many emotional details. Still, the dysfunctional-family reunion has enough good acting and unpredictable characters to promise a fairly satisfying resolution. Then, boom, 15 minutes before the end, we are catapulted into classic tragedyland… Edward Albee triumphed at such daring stylistic conflation in The Goat, but his reach back to the ancient furies had the deep dread of inevitability. Here, in Will Frears' straightforward production, we just feel jerked around."