Swimming With Whales Reviews
Washington Post- Recommended
"...But Bartlett (a founding member of local playwrights collective the Welders) largely steers the drama away from undue sentimentality, and he does a great job teasing out the significance of the ocean and the whale (Nate Shelton as Ketos) without letting either of those saltwater presences become ponderous symbols."
DC Theater Arts- Recommended
"...Owen is forced to deal with a sea of troubles; far more tragic than the standard gripes that teenage boys have against authority figures. Dramatic issues of abandonment, illness, loss, and grief are countered in the play by love, humor, support, and redemption. The play reestablishes to the characters, and to the audience, the comforting power of nature."
MD Theatre Guide- Recommended
"...This is a gentle, and ultimately hopeful, play considering that death permeates it. The pacing seems to take its lead from the timelessness of sea and sand-it ebbs and flows and pushes and pulls and sparks up and subsides. Director Alex Levy wisely lets the susurration the sea, which is instinctive to human development, set the pace as these four people reaffirm their bonds and find other paths together and separately."
DCTheatreScene- Recommended
"...As the blood family heals and the intentional family regrows its roots along the sands of Nantucket, we see a poignant, at times hilarious, journey of healing and reconciliation. Bartlett weaves a whale of tale; one that is worth sharing."
BroadwayWorld- Recommended
"...Bartlett has a light touch as a writer. His descriptions of loss are captivating and ring true to life because they are drawn from his own deeply personal experience of love and loss. Despite its preoccupation with death, Swimming with Whales is joyful, funny, and surprising in all the ways that life everyday can be. This is what makes Swimming with Whales so watchable, despite it's lengthy run time."