Beyond the Horizon presented by The American Century Theater at Gunston Arts Center

Beyond the Horizon

Gunston Arts Center
2700 S. Lang Street Arlington

Eugene O’Neill’s romantic tragedy is considered a turning point in the development of American drama. Critics pronounced it the first great play of the 20th Century, and despite the passage of time, this spare, beautiful, achingly emotional story of an ill-starred love triangle must be seen by anyone who loves theater. Beyond the Horizon marks the American Century Theater directing debut of Kathleen Akerley, one of the D.C. area’s most original and acclaimed directors.

Presented by The American Century Theater

Thru - Feb 12, 2011

Price: $30

Stage: Theatre Two

Show Type: Drama

Running Time: 2hrs; 45 mins with 2 intermissions

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Beyond the Horizon Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Examiner - Recommended

"... for all its imperfections, this production beautifully delivers O'Neill's clear, spare writing illustrating an intense bond between brothers. The set creates an appropriate background for the play: Above a raised platform, seven horizontal hanging panels offer an abstract blue/black mountain design, suggesting the horizon that Robert is always striving to go beyond."

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- Barbara Mackay

MetroWeekly - Recommended

"...It's a solid production of this early O’Neill, but perhaps more importantly a rare opportunity to consider a first foray into a kind of realism we now take for granted."

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- Kate Wingfield

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...Eugene O'Neill's tragedy Beyond the Horizon astonished audiences when it opened on Broadway in 1920 and subsequently received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Where previous American plays tended toward melodrama and stock characterization, O'Neill's work offered complex people who could not be considered simply heroes or villains. American Century Theater in Arlington, Virginia, demonstrates that there's still life in the play, even if one of director Kathleen Akerley's conceits is a bit too complicated for its own good."

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- Susan Berlin

Washington City Paper - Recommended

"...Cabezas and Drew don’t handle O’Neill’s famously orotund dialogue with quite the same ease, but they share an earnestness and commitment that makes them easy to watch. And “earnest” and “committed” are watchwords for O’Neill. He’d write better plays later, but for all Horizon’s anachronistic qualities, the core of this thing has a pleasing heft and even relevance: Feeling haunted by choices we made when we were 20 never goes out of style."

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- Chris Klimek

Arlington Connection - Somewhat Recommended

"...Idiosyncratic movements and language not found in the script are added at strange moments, further distracting the audience from the text O'Neill crafted so carefully to leave theatrical embellishments behind. Drew is given exclamations that distract from Cabezas emotional dialogue with Chuck Young as his father at the climax of the first act. Later, after the death of the father is established, Young returns as first a neighbor and later as a doctor. Worse, the role of Ruth's mother alternates between Amy Quiggins and the same Ashley DeMain who portrayed her "daughter" in the first act and her granddaughter's puppeteer in the second."

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- Brad Hathaway

DCTheatreScene - Somewhat Recommended

Even the genius Eugene O’Neill, the only American playwright to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, had a learning curve. And Director Kathleen Akerley, who has the courage to think outside the box and take humongous risks, tackles his great but flawed, three-act play.

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- Rosalind Lacy

Beyond the Horizon presented by The American Century Theater at Gunston Arts Center