Juliana Smithton is a respected neurologist whose life has recently begun unraveling. Her husband is leaving her, her daughter has eloped with a much older man and even she’s beginning to question her own good health. A compelling and acclaimed drama in which nothing is quite what it seems, The Other Place is an intimate mystery that blurs fact with fiction, past with present, and Juliana’s perception with ever-elusive truth. An elaborately crafted theatrical work, this play was nominated for a Tony, an Obie and two Outer Circle Critic Awards during its initial run.
The Other Place
Critics
LemonMeter
Reviews: 8
Reviews
It's an impressive feat on both the playwright's and the actress' part. Narrators are supposed to have all the answers; all too often, their entire reason for being is to make the audience not have to think about what's going on. But Juliana not only doesn't have any answers, but she also isn't even sure about the questions she's supposed to ask. This turns the narrator trope on its head, making the whole affair more of a mystery, or a riddle to be solved, rather than the kind of spoon-fed familiarity that too many playwrights settle for.
We've seen many powerful stories before, whether in theatre, in literature, or in the news - about a great, controlling intellect falling to the inescapable forces of decline. White's story, contemporarily speaking, is one of the more piercing and tonally on-target in theatre circles. But on a less literal level, “The Other Place” is also a play about regret, remorse, and the extraordinary measures a powerful mind can take in an attempt to sequester the toxic by-products of life from the conscious mind.
The Chance continues to excel at bringing small yet intense and influential plays to local audiences. If you're a fan of that brand of theater, mark “The Other Place” as a must-see.
There has been no finer individual performance in local theater than the one currently being given by Jacqueline Wright in “The Other Place” at Anaheim's Chance Theater... “The Other Place” is a dynamic piece of theater bolstered by Jacqueline Wright's magnificent performance, which should be witnessed by any serious student of the performing arts.
I left with tears in my eyes and a sense of gratitude for whoever laid out the nice straight roads in Anaheim — since my reeling brain wasn't quite up to any more twists and turns.
For its stirring Orange County Premiere production currently on stage at Chance Theater in Anaheim through October 21, Juliana is played with powerful, intense ferocity by Jacqueline Wright, in what will surely be noted as one of the season's most memorable dramatic performances you will long remember this year... An intimate drama with enormous punch, “THE OTHER PLACE”—under the caring and sensitive direction of Matthew McCray—satisfies its audience by keeping us emotionally invested and constantly surprised, even as we watch a seemingly stable woman slowly spiral into what may (or may not) be the initial stages of dementia.
Chance Theatre takes on a challenging play with the help of two strong leads in Jacqueline Wright and Ron Hastings. That being said, the show misses the mark at really creating an intriguing psychological mystery due to missed comedic and dramatic opportunities.
Sharr White's riveting and affective play, The Other Side, concerns Juliana, a neurologist and holder of a billion-dollar patent, whose life suddenly starts crumbling before her eyes. The show begins with her — confident, sophisticated, impregnable — lecturing to a convention hall full of doctors. By the end she is in a very different place, and the transformation this character makes is awesome and heartbreaking.
It's an impressive feat on both the playwright's and the actress' part. Narrators are supposed to have all the answers; all too often, their entire reason for being is to make the audience not have to think about what's going on. But Juliana not only doesn't have any answers, but she also isn't even sure about the questions she's supposed to ask. This turns the narrator trope on its head, making the whole affair more of a mystery, or a riddle to be solved, rather than the kind of spoon-fed familiarity that too many playwrights settle for.
We've seen many powerful stories before, whether in theatre, in literature, or in the news - about a great, controlling intellect falling to the inescapable forces of decline. White's story, contemporarily speaking, is one of the more piercing and tonally on-target in theatre circles. But on a less literal level, “The Other Place” is also a play about regret, remorse, and the extraordinary measures a powerful mind can take in an attempt to sequester the toxic by-products of life from the conscious mind.
The Chance continues to excel at bringing small yet intense and influential plays to local audiences. If you're a fan of that brand of theater, mark “The Other Place” as a must-see.
There has been no finer individual performance in local theater than the one currently being given by Jacqueline Wright in “The Other Place” at Anaheim's Chance Theater... “The Other Place” is a dynamic piece of theater bolstered by Jacqueline Wright's magnificent performance, which should be witnessed by any serious student of the performing arts.
I left with tears in my eyes and a sense of gratitude for whoever laid out the nice straight roads in Anaheim — since my reeling brain wasn't quite up to any more twists and turns.
For its stirring Orange County Premiere production currently on stage at Chance Theater in Anaheim through October 21, Juliana is played with powerful, intense ferocity by Jacqueline Wright, in what will surely be noted as one of the season's most memorable dramatic performances you will long remember this year... An intimate drama with enormous punch, “THE OTHER PLACE”—under the caring and sensitive direction of Matthew McCray—satisfies its audience by keeping us emotionally invested and constantly surprised, even as we watch a seemingly stable woman slowly spiral into what may (or may not) be the initial stages of dementia.
Chance Theatre takes on a challenging play with the help of two strong leads in Jacqueline Wright and Ron Hastings. That being said, the show misses the mark at really creating an intriguing psychological mystery due to missed comedic and dramatic opportunities.
Sharr White's riveting and affective play, The Other Side, concerns Juliana, a neurologist and holder of a billion-dollar patent, whose life suddenly starts crumbling before her eyes. The show begins with her — confident, sophisticated, impregnable — lecturing to a convention hall full of doctors. By the end she is in a very different place, and the transformation this character makes is awesome and heartbreaking.