Review Roundup: Clubbed Thumb's GRIEF HOTEL Opens At The Public

Clubbed Thumb's Grief Hotel has officially opened at The Shiva Theater at The Public Theater. Read the reviews!

Grief Hotel is written by Liza Birkenmeier and directed by Tara Ahmadinejad. The production is currently set to run through April 20. 

Loss is fast, but grief is slow. Aunt Bobbi's going to try to make everyone feel better, even though her parties are cursed.

The cast of Grief Hotel includes Nadine Malouf, Ana Nogueira, Naren Weiss, Obie Award-winner Susannah Perkins, Susan Blommaert and Bruce McKenzie.

Grief Hotel features scenic design by dots (Appropriate, An Enemy of the People), costume design by Mel Ng (California), lighting design by Masha Tsimring (Terce), and sound design & composition by Jordan McCree (Empathitrax).

Brittani Samuel, The New York Times: On the surface, this salacious cross-pollination might sound entertaining, but without enough exploration of these people or enough time to invest in the mess of their affairs, “Grief Hotel” feels more like a vague social experiment about impulse and desire than a provocative, character-driven piece of theater.

Sara Holdren, Vulture: What’s more, this particular show is a sneaky marvel. Rather than handing you tidy packages of exposition, Grief Hotel trusts you to fall into an already rushing river, find a branch, and hang on.

Sandy MacDonald, New York Stage Review: Playwright Liza Birkenmeier doesn’t make it immediately easy to grasp the gist of her quirky play, Grief Hotel. It starts with Aunt Bobbi – Susan Blommaert, queen of the deadpan delivery – planted in her armchair stage left. Updating the layout after the show’s fleeting premiere at the cramped Wild Project last summer, the design collective dots has sliced the Public’s smallest stage into a sharp, shallow wedge, lending the fast-paced, one-act play – deftly directed by Tara Ahmadinejad – a splayed, in-your-face feel.

Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage Review: Liza Birkenmeier’s Obie Award–winning play paints a gorgeously impressionistic picture of a group of acquaintances in loneliness, contemplation, and despair.

Average Rating: 75.0%

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