A Troubled Son (or Is He Wicked?) Is Just the Start of a Family’s Trouble
In ‘Our New Girl,’ a Household Is Under Stress
Charles Isherwood
June 10, 2014: Your sympathies are constantly shifting as you watch Our New Girl, a drama by the Irish-born writer Nancy Harris that cross-pollinates two very different genres. On the one hand, Ms. Harris’s London-set play, which opened at the Atlantic Theater Company’s smaller stage on Tuesday night, is a serious study of a well-heeled but harassed contemporary woman trying to keep her marriage and family from fraying. At the same time, Ms. Harris stocks her play with the classic elements of a thriller: a sullen child who may harbor violent impulses, a comely nanny who may not be as innocent as she appears. And let’s not forget that tarantula. Actually the spider, which makes only a cameo or two, is the only character in the play who remains entirely likable (assuming you have nothing against arachnids). The others gain and lose our affections as the plot heats up, sometimes in ways more pulpy than plausible.
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