Details

ISBN-10: 1559364742
ISBN-13: 9781559364744
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Publish Date: 07/14/2015
Dimensions: 8.30" L, 5.40" W, 0.40" H

The Realistic Joneses

Paperback

Price: $14.95

Overview

“Plays as funny and moving, as wonderful and weird as The Realistic Joneses do not appear often on Broadway. Or ever, really… Mr. Eno’s voice may be the most singular of his generation.” -Charles Isherwood, New York Times

“As usual, Eno’s dialogue is a marvel of compression and tonal control, trivial chitchat flipping into cosmic profundity with striking ease… There’s much to savor: the dry but meaningful banter, the joy of humans sharing time and space, battling the darkness with a joke or silence. Life in Enoland isn’t what you’d call realistic — it’s more real than that.” -David Cote, Time Out New York

“A macabre and melancholy yet strangely delightful comedy… In The Realistic Joneses the world is familiar and, then again, very scary. It’s also weird and cruel and profound in all sorts of unexpected places — as sad as life but a whole lot funnier.” -Linda Winer, Newsday

“A funny yet poignant play… Eno long ago staked his claim as a linguistic hipster who reimagines the absurdist likes of Beckett and Albee for our post-Seinfeld age… ‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, ‘ we are told in Beckett, and so it is with this very fine play where laughter exists a heartbeat, or heartbreak, away from tears.” -Matt Wolf, Telegraph (UK)

Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors, John and Pony, are two suburban couples who have more in common than their identical last names. This existential comedy, pitched in Will Eno’s singular voice, finds the darkness, sweetness and hilarity in our fleeting and ordinary days, as we seek to reveal ourselves, and conceal ourselves, often in the same minute. Sometimes there are only short-term answers to life’s eternal questions, but all four Joneses, like all of us, are going to try their best, in very different ways.

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Reviews
"An elliptical, funny, dark, strangely moving new play... The Realistic Joneses suggests that change, which means getting older, comes fast and, when manifest, is like being on a runaway train with someone you might now not know." –Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"The wizardry of Eno's craft is that, as surrealistic as this world may seem, and as awkwardly funny as the action is, theatergoers most certainly identify with these characters' loneliness... The Realistic Joneses may be the most singular work I've seen in some time." –E. Kyle Minor, New Haven Register

"The Realistic Joneses is thrilling to watch for Mr. Eno's way with dialogue, which eludes and embraces a rhythmic and humane weirdness... In his hands, awkwardness feels not just uncomfortable but dramatically vital. His recognition of the frailty of language–his delight in the drama of subtext, the real mode of twenty-first-century communication–creates space for the audience to interpret what they are seeing." –Economist

"The Realistic Joneses makes stinging, sometimes wistful observations about the challenges we face as individuals and in relationships... Using the intriguingly offbeat dialogue that is his hallmark, Eno draws his four characters to each other in ways that movingly emphasize the ultimate commonality of the human condition." –Elysa Gardner, USA Today

"Indescribably brilliant... Something tells me that this odd, wonderful play is going to have a very long life, and that those who see the world premiere will gain bragging rights about being in on the ground floor of the creation of a modern American classic." –Joe Meyers, Connecticut Post

"Very funny... This play worms its way into the psyche. Eno subtly imprints on our consciousness not just a general awareness of our mortality but of the way dread pervades our daily routines, and how it instills in us a need for other people." –Don Aucoin, Boston Globe

"Eno is a master who has a unique voice of his generation of playwrights... a fascinating word fest that dazzles in the language of absurdist theater." –Frank Rizzo, Hartford Courant

"A thoughtful play that resonates with thematic richness and feeling... Questions of mortality, solitude, love, loss, humanity and the universe surface in sneaky ways that catch you off-guard in Eno's writing. What might sound to the casual listener like off-the-cuff glibness artfully veils an emotional depth of charge." –David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

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Details

ISBN-10: 1559364742
ISBN-13: 9781559364744
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Publish Date: 07/14/2015
Dimensions: 8.30" L, 5.40" W, 0.40" H
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