The Art of Burning at Stanford Calderwood Pavilion

The Art of Burning

Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
527 Tremont St. Boston

Mid-negotiation, modernist painter Patricia changes the terms of her 'conscious uncoupling' with Jason. She wants full custody of their 15-year-old daughter Beth. Jason demands that their daughter decide, but mysteriously Beth didn't show up for school. Has Patricia hidden her away to protect her, or is there something more sinister afoot? Crafted with humor and insight by acclaimed Boston playwright Kate Snodgrass and director Melia Bensussen, The Art of Burning explores the love, rage, and responsibility that come with marriage and parenting in America.

Thru - Feb 12, 2023

Tuesdays: 7:30pm

Wednesdays: 2:00pm & 7:30pm

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:00pm

Show Type: Drama

Box Office: 617-933-8600

www.huntingtontheatre.org

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The Art of Burning Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

The Boston Globe - Somewhat Recommended

"...But the 85-minute "The Art of Burning" nonetheless registers as fragmentary and underdeveloped. Its disparate parts don't quite jell, and the ending feels rushed. A fuller examination of marriage and its discontents would require more than the thin and one-dimensional portrait of Jason we see here."

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- Don Aucoin

WBUR - Somewhat Recommended

"...For nearly an hour and a half, "The Art of Burning" moves slowly without much happening. The lack of character development left me disinvested in what transpired, and Patricia's act of burning Jason's antique desk is mentioned a few times in the play. Still, that simmering anger bubbling inside someone long enough to make them explode in such an act is absent. The show is more of smoldered fire than the raging, flickering flame of a tale one might hope for."

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- Jacquinn Sinclair

The Arts Fuse - Somewhat Recommended

"...Unfortunately, Snodgrass has crafted her script about domestic blitzkrieg with far too heavy a hand. She is not content to stand back and let her characters duke it out, a la Strindberg, but has challenged herself (and us) to grapple with knotty themes that include infidelity, anguished artistic temperament, troubled parenting, and even a brief discussion of hormonal urges. Oh, and let’s not ignore that she spices up her overheated Mulligan stew with lots of references to Greek tragedy and mythology. In homage, Eugene O’Neill is given some cred by the fireside (a number of his dramas borrowed liberally from Greek tragedy, including Mourning Becomes Electra, based on The Oresteia, and Desire Under the Elms, which tips its hat to Euripides’ Medea and Hippolytus)."

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- Robert Israel

The New England Theatre Geek - Recommended

"...Snodgrass and Bensussen show the audience everything we need to know. Both expect their audience to be emotionally and intellectually intelligent. Snodgrass wrote almost no exposition; Bensussen dives into Snodgrass’s play fists first. Audience members will either understand the art, theatre, and myth references or they won’t. Audience members will either comprehend the moral landscape that The Art of Burning explores, or they won’t. On the one hand, that’s a bold choice that pays off well."

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- Kitty Drexe

The Sleepless Critic - Highly Recommended

"...Cutting sarcasm, sardonic wit, and a feigned smile does little to contain Patricia’s smoldering rage lurking just beneath the surface. No question Patricia has every reason to harbor resentment considering what she is going through affects her entire family. As a painter, it is important for Patricia to express her mounting feelings through art, but what if the pain is so deep that not even a canvas can exorcise that anger?"

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Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...The pace of the show kept my attention, but in the end, I felt the script failed to deliver on Patricia's ominous assertions. A sacrifice is called for. And while I was relieved that no children were murdered in the course of this play, the failure to demand more of these characters left me unsatisfied."

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- Lynne Weiss

The Art of Burning at Stanford Calderwood Pavilion