Closet Land at Anacostia Arts Center

Closet Land

Anacostia Arts Center
1231 Good Hope Road, SE Washington

In an unnamed country, at an unknown time, a man claiming to be a government agent relentlessly interrogates a young woman, insisting that her children’s books contain hidden messages against the state. As his methods grow more ruthless, she is forced to decide if resistance is her only weapon…

Thru - May 10, 2015

Thursdays: 8:00pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 8:00pm

Sundays: 3:00pm

Price: $20-$25

Box Office: 202-631-6291

anacostiaartscenter.com/event/factory-449-presents-closet-land

Closet Land Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended

"...The performers' valiant striving for nuance notwithstanding, "Closet Land" is a rather single-minded piece; it is also one that explores familiar territory. While implying the liberating potential of fantasy, the play does not depict it, with the result that the brooding tone remains unvaried. From its opening scene, the narrative heads methodically in an awful direction that seems in tune with other portraits of totalitarian oppression. The odd allusion to mind-numbing bureaucracy sounds the requisite Kafkaesque notes."

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- Celia Wren

MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended

"...There is no question in my mind that Hammerly's production of Closet Land is one of these transformational productions. The near lyrical script, the realness of the scene and setting, the raw display of the power of the human mind and the flame of will and resistance, and the sweeping but controlled emotion of the cast who bravely took on these terribly broken characters-it is a chair gripping, hair-raising, horrifically intense production that you cannot afford to miss. Go witness the resilience of the human spirit and see for yourself how this powerful play completes."

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- Heather Hill

Theatre Bloom - Highly Recommended

"...How do you shut a mind? Factory449 will expose you to senseless charges, baseless allegations, and brutality in their strikingly disturbing staged adaptation of Closetland written by Radha Bharadwaj. Directed by Rick Hammerly and featuring company members Sara Barker and David Lamont Wilson, this shocking and gut-wrenching political drama permeates deep into the darkened territory of psychological torture. An unforgiving and abrasive script begging to be set in the theatre, the piece is adapted from the movie and presented in the round without an intermission."

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- Amanda Gunther

Magic Time - Highly Recommended

"...While Millett's reading of the film Closet Land as an allegory about the sexual politics of state torture makes fascinating sense, there remains a lot about the film that seems more tangential than probative. For instance the entire specific childhood sex-abuse narrative: Why is it even there? The interrogation taking place in the present amply dramatizes the sexual politics of state torture; the molestation back story doesn't add much. The brilliant interpretation now on view in the Factory 449 staging shifts the work's focus, however, away from the capital P Political to the lower-case personal-foregrounding what the woman's history of sexual abuse means to her-with dramatically revelatory results."

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- John Stoltenberg

Closet Land at Anacostia Arts Center

Closet Land

Closet Land Reviews

Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended

MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended

Theatre Bloom - Highly Recommended

Magic Time - Highly Recommended

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