The Lyons at Round House Theatre

The Lyons

Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway Bethesda

Indomitable matriarch Rita Lyons is at a major crossroads. Her husband is dying, her son is in a dubious relationship, and her daughter is barely holding it together. Tempers flare, words are exchanged, and secrets are revealed. Worst of all, Rita can't figure out how to redesign her living room.

Thru - Dec 22, 2013

Price: $25-$50

Show Type: Comedy/Drama

Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with 1 intermission

Buy Tickets

Round House Theatre Seating Chart

The Lyons Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...Out of the ensuing scenes spill the repercussions of the family's resentments, in ways that activate lots of laughs at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, particularly in the long, first scene that functions like an open sewer of bile. The enjoyment in director John Vreeke's production wanes a bit as the evening unfolds, however - a deflation caused in part by the lack of a needed neurosis-fueled hysteria in the son, Curtis, played by an oddly under-energized Marcus Kyd."

Read Full Review

- Peter Marks

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Like a pride of carnivorous lions, the Lyons family is aggressively on the prowl for laughs (underneath the pain) In playwright Nicky Silver's The Lyons now playing at Bethesda's Round House Theatre. From the opening scene where we see the Jewish matriarch, Rita Lyons (Naomi Jacobson), prattling incessantly about re-designing her living room while her husband Ben (John Lescault) lies dying of cancer-to the last scene where Rita informs her dysfunctional family that she is fed up and striking out on her own, Director John Vreeke keeps the edgy, caustic - yet humorous - tone afloat."

Read Full Review

- David Friscic

MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended

"...But then Jacobson is in stellar company here. Lescault plays Ben as a thoroughly defeated man who nonetheless rages as if there were still hope, still love to be found with his wife. Marcus Kyd and Kimberly Gilbert are the Lyons' offspring, both horribly scarred by a lack of love and respect shown between, and from, their parents -- and yet both still showing signs that they are capable of giving love and respect. You'll be both charmed and distraught by Kyd's performance as an imaginative, intelligent Curtis, who keeps getting tripped up by a real life that was stunted far too early -- age 7, to be exact -- upon rejection by his homophobic father."

Read Full Review

- Doug Rule

Washingtonian - Highly Recommended

"...The first act of The Lyons proceeds rather conventionally, but the second act reveals more surprises. It's structurally different-Gilbert opens the play by including the audience in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Scenes change swiftly, courtesy of Misha Kachman's rotating set, and transform to the tune of blastingly loud and unexpected music choices, including a creepy cover of "Over the Rainbow." The drama is also heightened-dire circumstances give the audience more of a window into Curtis (Marcus Kyd), Ben and Rita's son, who is perhaps the most damaged of the Lyons. His scenes with a no-nonsense nurse (Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey, making the most of a small role) have a tenderness to them. It's a testament to Silver's writing and John Vreeke's direction that the audience longs for a little warmth for Curtis-or for anyone, really, in this dysfunctional family."

Read Full Review

- Missy Frederick

MD Theatre Guide - Not Recommended

"...Might a production of Nicky Silver's play, which bounces back and forth between the farcical and the painfully sad, succeed given the right combination of talent, vision, geological forces, and astrological signs? I doubt it, but sometimes reputation trumps viability. For me, this play arrives dead on the boards."

Read Full Review

- Robert Michael Oliver

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

Love, bile and co-dependence are doled out in generous amounts in Nicky Silver’s savagely funny play The Lyons, a welcome antidote to holiday familial schmaltz being administered at Round House Theatre under the expert guidance of director John Vreeke.

Read Full Review

- Jayne Blanchard

The Lyons Photo Gallery

The Lyons at Round House Theatre

The Lyons

The Lyons Reviews

Washington Post - Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended

Washingtonian - Highly Recommended

MD Theatre Guide - Not Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

The Lyons Photo Gallery

Explore More

Other Sites