Written by Daniel Goldfarb
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Synopsis: Spring 1946. The plan was simple: a German for every Jew. Its execution would be swift, clean, its impact undeniable. In this daring new romantic thriller inspired by actual events, a band of Jewish freedom fighters attempts to avenge a society's wrongs - if they can keep from tearing each other apart.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"As both a historical inquiry into the ethics of the “eye for an eye” brand of justice and a romantic melodrama, the play is a boring bust."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"THE hideous Playbill cover is a warning sign: A pair of lips pucker up for a kiss against a Star of David and gloomy, skeletal trees. That image is as muddled as Daniel Goldfarb's new play, "The Retributionists." Actually, "muddled" isn't quite accurate: The show is asinine. And shockingly we're not at the Fringe but at the esteemed Playwrights Horizons, where the piece opened last night."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"In the press notes, the play is called "a romantic thriller." But between a B-movie script by Daniel Goldfarb ("Modern Orthodox"), tone-deaf direction by Leigh Silverman and uniformly overheated performances, it has all the tension and believability of Broadway's spy spoof "The 39 Steps."
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Read the whole review HERE.
THEATERMANIA:
"Nonetheless, the play feels as if it needed another draft before going into production. There are great scenes, wonderful moments, and fascinating and breathtaking moral complexities that suddenly flash and then get mired in mediocre melodrama."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"Jewish revenge stories are suddenly popping up everywhere. Onscreen, "Defiance" took the earnest action route while "Inglourious Basterds" went for swaggering, tongue-in-cheek revisionism. "The Retributionists" aims instead for a reflective approach, but issue drama is not the forte of playwright Daniel Goldfarb, known for lighter Jewish-identity explorations such as "Adam Baum and the Jew Movie" and "Modern Orthodox." Nor is suspense one of the strengths of Leigh Silverman's direction, at least not in this inert production, which is further hindered by a wooden performance in a key role"
Read the whole review HERE.
BACKSTAGE:
"Setting aside Leigh Silverman's customarily spare, elegant staging, however, Daniel Goldfarb's "The Retributionists" feels neither natural nor believable. And this is a play, mind you, inspired by historical events"
Read the whole review HERE.
TIME OUT NY:
"In Daniel Goldfarb’s The Retributionists, revenge is a dish served more or less room temp."
Read the whole review HERE.
NY1:
" The best that I can say about the "The Retributionists" by Daniel Goldfarb is that it was inspired by actual events. But "inspired" is a poor choice of word here because the production is practically a complete misfire. The two-hour running time feels about as long as the three years the story actually spans."
Read the whole review HERE.
