Theater: Duke on 42nd Street / 229 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036
Synopsis:
The Broken Heart, a 1629 tragic-comic gem written by John Ford, (Tis Pity She's a Whore), is set in ancient Sparta, but Ford's world more closely resembles the 17th Century court of Charles II. A young woman forced to marry a ridiculously jealous codger. A cruel nobleman bent on frustrating his sister's happiness. A princess who tries to stand aloof from the emotional discord, but lives to feel love ruining her composure. These are the main plot engines.
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February 14, 2012: “Our court wears gravity more than we relish,” says the Spartan King Amyclas, hoping for some festive wedding celebrations to raise the collective spirits, in “The Broken Heart,” a 17th-century drama by John Ford being presented at the Duke on 42nd Street by Theater for a New Audience.
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February 15, 2012: Love collides with gory revenge in John Ford's rarely produced tragedy The Broken Heart, which is getting a welcome production from Theatre for a New Audience at the Duke on 42nd. It's a dense play that could leave contemporary theatergoers scratching their heads. And yet, in Selina Cartmell's astonishingly lucid and ravishingly beautiful production, the piece simply rivets audiences' attention.
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February 13, 2012: In this rarely seen 1629 revenge drama by John Ford set in ancient Sparta, a character makes a heavenly appeal: "Apollo, inspire my intellect!" This reviewer would like to invoke the same sentiment in delivering a song of praise for this peerless production from Theatre for a New Audience. Hallelujah for the ever-inventive director, Selina Cartmell, who has taken a difficult poetic play and made it accessible to all. There's hardly a false note in this stylish—some might say chic—presentation that happily also succeeds in conveying a definite emotional punch. For in Ford's remarkable play, though most of the characters endure a world of extremes, there is a prevailing restraint, a kind of elegance in a mad universe. That elusive quality is what the director and her superior cast capture, creating a production no serious theatergoer should miss.
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