Elective Affinities
Cast Requirements
1 women
Publisher
TCG
Press
"A brilliant monologue."
John Heilpern, New York Observer
"Theatergoers familiar with Mr. Adjmi’s earlier plays — aggressively stylized satires like “Stunning” and “The Evildoers” — are likely to anticipate the poisonous political pulse that animates this portrait of a lady. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be disarmed by the flirtatious artistry of “Elective Affinities,” in both its writing and its performance... You leave chastened and perhaps tainted, but also elated. "
Ben Brantley, New York Times
"...surgically precise, blackly funny ... its eloquent, perverse core of coolly rationalized cruelty continues to gain mass and weight in my head. Elective Affinities is like the curtain-raiser for some horrific tragedy that hasn't begun." (Best of 2011)
David Cote, Time Out
"A pure demonic delight... Elective Affinities is a simple, angry little canker on the pulled face of the UES. Tickets are nearly impossible to get — you have to know the right people — but, darling, isn't that the point?"
Scott Brown, New York Magazine
"The toughest ticket in town"
Aaron Gell, New York Observer
Elective Affinities” belongs to the rarely explored genre of metaphysical theatre: Adjmi created a character who experiences the world through her relationship to things, forcing the audience to ask not only where they are, but what they are doing there. By the end of the hour-long performance, the audience sees that all the subjects that come under Mrs. Hauptmann’s purview... are merely reflections of her colonizing self. By then, the audience members are reflections, too, and she likes the way they look on her auction block." (Best of 2011)
Hilton Als, The New Yorker
Production and Development History
Upcoming: Soho Rep U.S. premiere, 2011 (w/Zoe Caldwell)
Commissioned: Royal Court Theatre; presented in Human Rights Watch (2002).
World Premiere: Royal Shakespeare Company (2005); transferred to Soho Theatre, London (2006).
Readings: Illusion Theater; Juilliard School.